Mass Effective: A Hero Made
by DrStache
Summary: Waking up on Eden Prime is not how I wanted to spend my weekend. Stranded in a strange new world with stranger characters, I skirmish with Shepard against Saren in a epic struggle to survive. When one's reality is warped and the pressures of the Galaxy are closing in on them, can they deal? Probably. Rated T for profanity.
1. An Amnesiac Adventure

You know...I like to think it's pretty common knowledge that there comes a time in everyone's lives when they finally begin to ask questions. The REAL questions. The ones that ask things like...who we are. Or I guess I should say, who are we _really?_ Why we were put here on this Earth. What's the point of our tedious, monotonous, mundane weeks? And at the end of the day...do any of our decisions or actions even really matter in the grand scheme of things? Are we even really aware of what's going on around us when our entire livelihoods, our countries, our planet, our solar system, our REALITY is not even a speck, not even a FRAGMENT of the greater cosmic whole surrounding us?

Woah. Chill [insert name of current reader]. It's a little early for that kind of philosophical pontification don't you think? Who do you think you are, Kierkegaard? But yeah, all those things and more. All of that existential bullshit and other stuff that might immediately come to mind. And sometimes that time for questions may come more than once in your life too. You're forced to ask these tough questions when your beliefs are challenged. Or when you find yourself lost, physically and/or metaphorically. Or when you see no other possible options for the future that may lay ahead. Or when you just simply realize that the gas station bathroom you're currently stuck in is out of toilet paper. God help you.

In any case, over these past trying couple of weeks, I found myself doing exactly that. Asking questions. Technically, I've been doing this kind of soul searching intermittently since I found myself landed in this god-forsaken place. But it wasn't really til now that I was coming to terms with it all. That I really became _aware_ of where I was. Beginning to contemplate what was and isn't around me. What was real and what wasn't. Who I even am and you know what. I think you get the gist of it. I gotta tell ya, at this point, I guess I still don't really even have an answer. Could one _ever_ answer these things? Are there even _answers_ to them? Correct _or_ otherwise?

As I said before...I don't know. Maaaan, I don't know _shit_. All I really know, is that I don't know anything at all. Oh, I'm sorry, you say I'm trying too hard to sound profound? You say I sound like a liberal arts college student who just discovered Hume? Yeah, okay, I'll give you that you cheeky bastard. I mean, I _guess_ I can say I've learned a _couple_ things. Like how I learned after everything that's happened, that people are always watching you when you think they aren't. That every action you take is scrutinized by someone, even if no one's present to witness it but yourself. And I ain't talkin' about that Illuminati or New World Order shit.

Oh wait. Never mind. Actually I am. Stupid conspiratorial galaxy-spanning cabals.

Anyhoo, I also learned that I should have told the truth from the get-go, because as great as lying is, it only gets you so far. I mean, have you ever heard of that story about the Turkey and the Bull? I'll pretend you haven't. In it, a bull hits up a turkey pining for the sky, telling him he can fly if he eats his crap. The turkey, like a dumbass, believes him and nibbles on that ish. He then tries to fly to a branch, and lo and behold, he succeeds. Then he's like oh hey, this poop stuff's not half bad, and proceeds to gobble it down like Kobiyashi, getting higher and higher with each pile of poo. Then, as he finally gets to the top, drinking in the sunset with a merlot and charcuterie of poo, the turkey is suddenly and savagely murdered by a crazed hunter who's after his waddle.

...I think there was a moral somewhere in that story.

I mean, I could have sworn I was on to something there. But what? You can only infer so much from a story where poultry eats manure you know...

ANYWAYS-

I also learned after all my travels, sacrifices, and mistakes...I learned that I had gotten a Crooked Officer, an Alliance Admiral, a Quarian, and an Entire Sentient Race killed with my own two hands. Not specifically in that order. And not too shabby if I have to say so myself. I'm not entirely sure though that the gravity of the situation surrounding any of them still really hit me-

"AGH!"

"Didn't I tell you to pay attention when I'm talking to you Human?"

Had to admit, my cheek seared with pain as the person retracted the claw they had just used to rake my face. Probably looked like Martin Riggs at the end of Lethal Weapon 2 by now.

"Real tough huh?" I found myself immediately spitting back, ignoring the blood that was now welling around my eye. "Big man! Real big to be knocking around someone who can't even hit back! Heh. You fuckin' coward. Take off these restraints and I bet you wouldn't be so tough-"

I immediately flinched as he brought his hand up again. But instead of feeling another strike, I only heard him chuckle. And I could only feel a dark sense of foreboding as the course noise reached my ears. "-hehe...so you're one of those huh? Look, who are you trying to impress here? Take a good look around. It's just you and me friend. And while I'm flattered you'd want to put a show on for me, I've seen it too many times to count. It's gotten old." He leaned in close enough that I could now feel his breath on my face. "There's no reason for such a...ludicrous facade. I know that had to hurt. You can let a few tears fly if you want. I won't judge. I mean, I know my claws are pretty sharp. I don't file them often." He clacked his talons together as his yellow irises rapidly flit across my face. Then he leaned in closer. "Or on the other hand...I suppose I should give you some credit. You've lasted this long. Maybe you're just as tough as you're saying you are-"

Like the idiot I was, I decided to become a cliche and spit into his eye. One last act of defiance before what came next. Was it worth it as he hit me again? As half my face was now beginning to balloon up? Probably not. But it was nice to feel like I did something before I lost the ability to even entertain such a notion. The black tattoos that covered his face were as dark as the room around us, and now his demeanor came to match them as well. The Turian's otherwise alabaster face became decidedly grim, uncharacteristically serious as he reached for something behind his back.

"Hm. I guess we'll find out together then. He does want to see you himself...but you know, he never explicitly told me how pretty your face had to be."

And as usual, I couldn't help but run my mouth again. And the worst part is that I didn't even have anything to witty to say. Missed opportunities I tell you. There's always room for bad-ass one-liners in a situation like this. I mean, there's always room for bad-ass one liners but you know what I'm just rambling now.

"Wow, _real_ scary. Man, I gotta say...get bent you two-bit, Vorcha cocksucker. That sounded like something from a Blasto Holo-vid. I mean dear lord, were you even_ trying?_ Was that supposed to scare me into talking? I hope you can do better than that. Because if that's all you got, then you can just kill me right now because-"

"Keep running your mouth," he suddenly spoke in a low tone. "I take it back. I've never actually had someone as talkative as you. It's kind of refreshing."

A chill went down my spine as a lull fell in the conversation.

"Oh hey! Fun fact. Did you know that threatening to pry open a Krogan's headplate makes them beg like a Red Sand addict fixing for a hit? Or that splintering a Salarian's cranial horns tends to give one the same result? Every alien has that one thing just loaded with sensitive nerve-endings I tell you. For Humans...I hear the body part most akin to those are your fingers. Those cuticles on your fingers to be exact." Like a sub-par Bond villain, he revealed a knife, god knows from where, and I couldn't say that I was able to mask my fear as I began to process the very last thing he said. "Hehe...as a fan, I'm sure you recognized _that_ was a line from the last Blasto...but the funny thing is...I actually agree with the Rogue Councilor. I find what he said to be oh so very, very true. Or the first two in any case. To be honest, I've never had the pleasure to test that last part yet. Can you believe that? You Humans usually squeal before I even get that far. But for you...I guess you get to be my first. Want to find out how true those words are together?"

He now brandished the fifteen centimeter serrated blade like a child, moving it toward my cuffed hand with a facile smile and off-kilter jubilee. And then-

CUT TO BLACK.

Makes you wanna sigh. What a mess. Doesn't seem like it'll get any better than that for me. In fact, it looks like the end. Really. I mean, this situation is PRET-TY bad. Game over stuff right there. Probably where my story ends. If only I could start over and...oh. Wait a second. Maybe I can. Instead of showing you the horrifying conclusion that happens next...(ha, like anybody would want to see _that_)...how about I just reminisce of the hilarious hijinks that led to this. From the beginning. The story of how a crazed Turian came to bolt me down to a chair inside a dark room with not a single soul the wiser. And how, even if any of those souls were, there'd still not be one person willing to lift a finger to help. Brought it all on myself really but...I'm getting ahead of myself again. I guess I should probably take it from the top.

Now's a good a time as any to tell the story I suppose. A story I wanna call...

* * *

**MASS EFFECTIVE: A HERO MADE!**

* * *

**Many.**

** Many.**

**Many Weeks Prior...**

"Ungh."

My daily morning routine. Muttering, wincing as my consciousness began to wake, grimacing that I was cruelly being dragged away from my deep slumber. Ripped from the warmth of my covers. The last bastion of pleasure a man had before one's droll morning routine followed. The most awful feeling in the world really. As I awoke this time however, I found my eyes beginning to blink furiously, trying to adjust to the beams of light now assaulting them. Already, my morning had decided to take a shit all over the rest of my day. God did I hate when that happen. Sunlight coming through your window at _just_ the right angle to start hitting your eyes. Awful.

I then immediately came to find that my mouth was dry, my nose stuffy, and I then lazily rubbed my face in a further attempt to now come to. Because something seemed off. And before long, my sight finally returned...only for it to make me to do a double take. I realized I was staring up. Staring straight up above me where a hue of dark violet plagued my vision, with _just_ a tinge of orange in it, which told me that the sun was just rising. Awful. It was way too early to be getting up if the sun hadn't even risen yet. I then blinked a couple more times before I found myself wondering why the hell I could see the sky. And I then racked my brain to find a reason as to why I was even outside so goddamn early that the sun hadn't even come up yet. I knew I had gone to sleep _relatively_ late after finishing an intense Friday night of passionately studying the properties of propylene glycols. But I had definitely not gone out last night, or at least I didn't remember going...though I think I would definitely remember if I had gotten wasted enough to end up like this.

Unless I was roofied.

But as attractive as I am, I don't exactly think I'm the target demographic for that. So what was I-

_CRACK!_

My blood-shot eyes cracked themselves open, and as every muscle in my body tensed, I felt a pang of what could only be described as sheer terror wrack my body as the sound reverberated in my head.

_That was a gunshot. Someone just shot a fucking gun._

It took every effort I had not to look toward where the shot had just come from, yet seconds later, I find myself doing so anyway. I mean, if I was to die because I witnessed a crime, I at least want to witness said crime. And see the perp who would actually kill me. And I would have let out a sigh of relief not a second later had I not thought it would have been heard, as I simply found a wall of haphazardly stacked crates to my right instead. I then jerked myself up from where I was laying as I felt something warm soak my pants. And upon sitting up, imagine my surprise to find another man sitting across from me, arms held across his legs, head buried in between his knees, and utterly, deathly silent. In addition, a steady stream of liquid gold was coming from his pant leg, and pooling near mine.

_OH SHIT-_

As I stared at the homeless man cowering in front of me, I too felt the grip of fear as I grasped my situation. I had woken up downtown, in the middle of what I could only guess to be an deserted alley way, across from a dirty hobo who had just pissed himself, all the while being a witness to what I imagine was a brutal homicide. Slowly, I propped myself up and scooted away from the bum until I felt more crates stacked against my back. The glint of the still rising sun was now reflecting off the brilliant, white wall to my left. And using my impressive deductive reasoning, I realized I was next to what must be an esteemed establishment. The only place with marble like this would have to be a museum or fancy government building for sure.

My eyes then returned slowly to the fearsome bum across from me and I shivered once again. I admit, it was hard struggling to come up with my next plan of action as I was strangled by fear myself.

_I could make a break for it. If it's a government building, help shouldn't be too far away with how loud that gunshot was._

_But what if you're caught? Shouldn't you just play it safe? Who would even be up this early?_

_But what if sticking here gets you found by the killer?_

Regardless of that last thought, I waited for what must have been an hour, probably only seconds, to be honest it was hard to tell, before I finally made the decision to roll onto my stomach and get to my knees. And before I was able to turn around, I could already feel the homeless man's eyes peering at my back.

"What are you doing!?" I heard him hiss as I slowly shifted my body back around to face him.

And now that I could clearly see his face, I found that the man had surprisingly little facial hair for a bum, and actually had a pretty nice five o' clock shadow going on. I could also see now that he was wearing some kind of funky outfit, something you'd probably find straight out a Macklemore video. Simply put, he was wearing some really weird looking overalls. And to top this all off, he was now staring at me with an intensity that matched my professors' stare whenever they spotted me sleeping in lecture. Real scary stuff I'll tell you hwat. And really looking at him now, he looked much less like the vagabond I had imagined.

After a prolonged stare-off, I managed to simply whisper, "Seeing if the coast is clear." Then, I slowly began to raise my head above the crates separating us from the alleyway.

"Oh god, you're going to get us killed," he muttered as he put his head back into a fetal position.

I froze as several more gunshots rang through the air, although I could tell they were much further away than the first.

And I started to wonder if I was now in Detroit.

Because the situation was almost surreal. I mean, it had to be a dream at this point. I had never been in such a-

And that's when I heard the growl. A weird...almost high pitched growl. A growl that I found all too familiar. A growl that I must have heard a hundred times before. A growl (if it could even be called that) that could only be described as..._synthetic_. My curiosity overcame my fear as I popped up for a millisecond and then back down behind our crates. And then my brain went kaput.

_Okay. That can't be right. _

I risked peeking up again and this time, intently eyed the figure that had its back turned to me. It certainly had two legs. So it was bipedal like a person. And it certainly had two arms. Like a two-armed person. And its posture seemed entirely normal. Like an entirely normal two-armed person. For all intents and purposes, it appeared to be just a regular old person. Except for the gleam coming from its metallic hide which indicated otherwise. That indicated it was something other than a regular old person. The tubes, antenna, and flashlight that one had for a face across from it only sharpened this discovery further.

_No. Nononono. No. Oh my god. This is stupid. No._

The sky I originally thought to be dark purple had now become bright orange, with plumes of smoke rising in the distance, and my nostrils flared as they were suddenly attacked by an onslaught of ash and soot.

The first realization that really hit me was that we were most definitely not located in an alley way.

I popped back down as my head started to swim.

We were on some kind of elevated platform. That's what I knew I saw. I saw a grassy plain further ahead with a hill rolling over the horizon too. Fairly picturesque.

_And yeah. We are definitely not in an alleyway. Most definitely not in Detroit either. Not in any city for that matter. And those were Geth. This is stupid. I've finally lost it._

I looked toward my partner who had obviously retreated back into his mind, that puddle of his unfortunately doing the opposite. And as I pressed my hands to my face to stop myself from becoming overwhelmed, I jumped again as I felt something cold pressed against my skin. Actually looking at my hands for the first time, and then the rest of my body for that matter, I realized why. What had felt like a comfortable tracksuit was actually armor. I found plates overlapping each other that covered the entirety of my chest, getting more and more intricate as I moved my eyes further down. A codpiece (attached to what I deemed a belt) covered my groin, and more armored plates masked the front of my legs, plastered atop of what looked to be like actual fabric. My arms seemed to be covered in similar fashion, as practically every inch of my body was covered in this armor's onyx sheen.

_And yup. Ahhh, yup. Guess I'm Dicaprio now. Next stop Shutter Island. Oh, or Inception would be pretty cool. Why can't I have a cool mental breakdown fantasy like that?_

Barring insanity, I then dropped that thought, and racked my brain again to go over my current scenario. I had woken up, and found myself lying down behind some horribly stacked crates.

_Don't forget clad in armor._

A sorry shell of a man sat beside me, frightened out of his mind, although his state seemed sensible, as I could attribute his fear to the Geth just on the other side of said crates-

"Geth," I suddenly found myself whispering under my breath.

It felt weird to say the word out loud. Ludicrous even. As it should.

_BAM BAM BAM BAM-_

My mind was still fairly preoccupied with the concept that alien robots couldn't be more than several feet away when the next volley of gunshots assaulted my eardrums. My compatriot's eyes shot open as he heard the firefight happening beside us too. And he immediately looked to me, questioning what was happening. I returned a look that I imagined said, "I don't know what the fuck is going on dude, stop staring at me." But physically, I said nothing, going over all the possible scenarios that could explain this in my head.

_Definitely not some kind of elaborate game show prank. The Geth and urine are too realistic to dismiss. God would I watch that show though. The production value would be off the charts- Focus. If this is a dream, it's hella lucid. Way too lucid. God damn. Ew. This ash in your mouth, the current sounds and the terror you're feeling all indicate otherwise too. Hm. Maybe I'm just in the middle of a hyper-realistic, hyper-competitive cosplay competition and I forgot-No..__...I guess I could have some degenerative neural disease I didn't know about til just now and have finally gone insane. Or...this could all be real. Everything I had just lived could all have just been a dream and I've just awaken from a loooong coma-_

The last thought had me reflexively chuckle at its stupidity. Then I frowned.

_I'm definitely insane. Oh god. I need an orderly. _

I then noticed a distinct lack of sound in the air, and concluded that the firefight had apparently already subsided.

_Humor me here. If we accept for a moment that those were Geth...and that this could possibly even truly be the universe of Mass Effect..._

And down the rabbit hole I went.

_That single gunshot earlier...and with the number of Geth in the area...and that burning sky...and with this place in shambles...and the guy hiding behind the crates...oh my god. I'm definitely there. _

Or rather, I was here, here on Eden Prime, the colony victim to the first Geth attack seen past the Perseus Veil in a hundred years.

_This is Prologue: Find the Beacon. Eden Prime. Or...actually, I could just be on some random colony._

_Or insane. There's always that. Probably that._

The only way to really determine any of that though would be the presence of Nihlus' body. Except for that last idea...but insanity really was just a cop out at this point. If you were insane, how would you even know?

_When you started seeing killer robots._

In any case, I didn't see Nihlus when I had originally looked the first time, but if this truly was the mission I knew so dearly, Nihlus' corpse would be just on the other side of these crates. Surely. And the person who had shot him-

The man across from me now got up from his fetal position, realizing the firefight had ended too. While he was obviously debating whether to look and see which side had won, he and I immediately flung our arms over our heads as the sound of another gunshot reverberated through the air.

_What the hell is going on?!_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Looking back at it, I thought it better to combine the foreword and the first chapter of the story. Makes it real easier to add chapters. But below is basically just a quick synopsis of the back story and reasoning for how and why this story came to be. Read it if you have any desire to gloss over an extremely pretentious and monotonous diatribe and have some time to burn.

But if you don't, or you just want to get to the (quote unquote) good stuff, just continue by clicking the next button up on the top left side of the page and strap yourself in...the story's just begun. Unfortunately.

* * *

**Foreword**

So after I finished Mass Effect 3 the first time...I was hurt. Just one of the many who were disenfranchised with the outcome of the trilogy. Although I _was_ relatively late entering the series, when I first heard ME2 was coming out for the PS3, I became intrigued. I saw the commercials for when the game first came out on Xbox years before and the opportunity to get in on what seemed like a good story was too good to pass up. As I found out the first game was still an exclusive, and learned about Mass Effect's unique story porting, I decided to get caught up on all the information available in the first game from the ME Wiki. I chose my choices for the second, who my Shepard seduced in the first, who I killed, who I saved, who I chose in the end. Despite missing the first, I was fully informed on who was who and had my Commander up and ready for the Mass Effect Sequel.

Fast forward several years later to the ending of Mass Effect 3 which left me with an emptiness on how...bizarrely the series had ended, to say the least. Watching fanmade ME videos online, reading over Bioware forum debates, seeing the notorious IT float around, were all how I ended up coping with how it all ended. I didn't revisit the game until ME1 was finally ported to PlayStation, which was when I did my first real play through for the series. Beating Saren, the Collectors, and the Man, all over again was something really enjoyable. Left a warm feeling in my tummy. I had the EC and Citadel DC on hand this time around for ME3 too and although I was fairly unimpressed with the EC, the Citadel DLC eased my pain, giving us a glimpse of what Shepard had to look forward too had they survived, having real interactions with the companions you've come along to know and love. Probably the best fanfiction I've ever seen. And even better that it's actual canon. And as Shep took their last breath, after finally destroying the reapers at the end of the game, I slowly let the series drift to the back of the mind as I finally moved on. I mean, it was _just_ a game right. Right?

Haha WRONG. Fast forward again to present day, on my current play through. I had not touched the trilogy again until recently, when my sister had knocked it and several other games off the shelf. Seeing the cover for ME2 evoked strong reactions, ones I didn't completely understand, and I realized...I had never done a perfect play through for Mass Effect. Everyone lives, Reapers destroyed, the galaxy left in the best state possible. And I realized it's what Shepard and the crew deserved. I loaded ME1 and begun what I deemed my final play through (for awhile at least), with a 100% completion rate. Paragon Shepard would leave no stone unturned, no conflict unresolved, helping everyone from street bums to alien ambassadors in their quest to resolve the galaxy's problems.

I got bummed as I finished the first game though, as I still had to deal with ME3's filthy endgame. I looked online in curiosity to fan made endings from long ago, back when the game first came out to see what could've been. I looked at things like ME Vindication and the reconstruction of ME choices and amount of detail gone into it. Replacing rachni with reaper elcor if they had been killed in the first game? A really cool mechanic that would have truly personalized one's play through and universe. Romancing Khalisah? A little less so. The alternate ending by Arkis, which expanded on Shepard's decision to reject the Catalina wine mixer and show what everyone wanted to see in the end: all races united in their fight against the reapers. The hilarious Mass Effect MS Paint adventures created by the now long gone Lankist.

And then I stumbled upon ME fan fiction. I read rewrites of the end, a lot of them damn good, and then I realized how much content was actually out there. I had always been wary of fan fiction, Mary Sue self inserts and erotic stories of side characters that got minutes of screen time getting freaky with it. But seeing all the material, good and bad, out here really got me. I didn't like the ending, and like so many others, I suddenly realized...why not create my own.

I really enjoyed a lot of the stories already out there: ME interstitium, Accidental Hero of the Galaxy, Stuck in a World of Fiction, and the list goes on and on. And I realized, it would be a lot of fun to do the same. The boring ramblings here are just to give a justification to the madness I plan on taking when I should be working on Finals. Not gonna lie, that might be another reason why I want to do this too. In fact, honest to god, this whole thing is just a procrastination attempt so I don't have to study. But regardless of motive, it's happening. This is a story of, however clichéd, a modern person being thrust into the world of Mass Effect. We'll explore a ME universe together, finding it a little different from usual, as ideas and plots from around the extranet are taken into it, to hopefully create a truly unique story with its own many twists and turns. I might be a little late to the party, but I still enjoy the Mass Effect series and the global community it's created. And to be honest, although this story is mostly for my own benefit, I'd still like to share it with the rest of you too.

This is the story of...Mass Effective: A Hero Made.


	2. Who? What? Why?

_Good question._

Only moments ago, the colonist Powell - like the rat he was - had sold me out to none other than THE Commander. Which only further confirmed my suspicions of where I was. Although Shepard didn't exactly look like how I remembered him. Or I guess in this case, _her._

* * *

**Moments Earlier...**

"Commander...its Nihlus," Alenko reported as their company rolled up to the space port.

She had already seen the Turian's corpse past the lieutenant as they approached. Its body was strewn across the floor, a single bullet hole laying in between its eyes.

_Apparently Spectres aren't as good as they say..._

"A Turian? You know him?" said the heavily armored marine walking up the stairs on her right.

"He's a Spectre. He was with us on the Norm-" Alenko tried to finish before he was suddenly cut off.

"Something's moving! Over behind those crates!" the gunnery chief shouted.

And Shepard had seen it too. But she lowered her weapon as a colonist popped up.

"Wait! Don't-Don't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human!"

* * *

**And at that Same Moment...**

After jumping up, his eyes quickly glanced back down toward me.

"You come out too!" I heard a woman yell.

_Yah Bastahd! I REALLY needed that moment here..._

I tried my best to look at him menacingly for having given me up, but he seemed to be quite underwhelmed by my glare. With a sigh, I decided to raise my hands above my head as I slowly stood up too, trying to pin the voice that addressed me.

_I recognize Williams and Alenko's voices but- _

I cut myself off as I saw the group of soldiers in front of me. Alenko and Williams seemed relatively the same as they did in the game. I could recognize them immediately, although ME's graphics didn't do them much justice now that I actually saw them in person.

Black haired male Caucasian, looking at me with that blank face that contained just a hint of disapproval?

I recognized Carth right away, who happened to be wearing the same attire as me, with a good amount of weapons and helmet hanging off his back. And to his far left...

Black hair in a bun female Caucasian, complete with hawkish nose, pouty frown, and with that _tone_ when referring to Nihlus...

That was certainly good ol' xenophobic Williams, wearing her signature phoenix armor, helmet and weapons roughly mirroring his.

The woman in between them though is not someone I was particularly familiar with. She was completely clad in ebony armor like Kaidan and I. But a red stripe traveled down her right arm, and with an N7 designation located on her chest, one could tell right away- this woman was a certified killing machine. The woman also had crimson red hair cut short, still long enough however to reach her neck, with bangs swept to her right. I thought she couldn't be much taller than me, like 5'09-5'11 maybe. She wasn't quite petite, but she wasn't large either. I mean from her outline, she seemed pretty buff for a girl. But not in a bad way. And without the armor and the massive heat she was packing, I'll be honest, I'd probably wouldn't be able to tell this was one of the most dangerous soldiers in the galaxy.

Except for her eyes. Although I loathe to use the term 'emerald', that's exactly the word I'd use to describe the bright green, piercing irises staring at me. I'd also use the term terrifying to describe them. They were incredibly sharp, unbelievably so, as I found her gaze cutting into me like razors, demanding immediate attention from whomever they stared at, both eyes burning with an intensity that was so overwhelming that-

I cut myself off as I realized everyone was now staring at me as well.

_Scary._

Whether my wandering thought was referring to her actual gaze, or to the realization of how I had just been describing it, I couldn't say.

"Who are you two..."

* * *

**And Back to the Present.**

_Good question._

"...and what are you doing sneaking around back there?" she 'asked'.

I racked my brains for what I was going to say before my partner opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry," the bum stammered, "I was hiding. From those...creatures...my name's Powell. I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him."

"What? You're saying Nihlus was murdered by a turian?" the commander immediately asked incredulous. Alenko went particularly slack jawed after hearing that tidbit of information.

"The other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up."

She glanced at me. "Is this true?"

"Uh, _Yeah_," I retorted, accidentally coming across like a jackass. She didn't look too pleased with that. So I then tried to make myself sound as sincere as possible. "The turian was silver, and had a cybernetic arm. Bright blue robotic eyes," I added, turning my attention to Powell. "Ni-The turian had called him Saren."

Powell looked at me confused. "How do you know what the turian looked like?" he asked.

_...why? Why would you say that? What the fuck man?!_

I furrowed my brow at him.

"I saw him through the crates." I replied.

_Nice save...wait. Why DID he just ask that? He had to have seen Saren to know he was a turian too._

Powell immediately answered my questions by disputing my claim. "When you jumped back here, I'm pretty sure you knocked yourself out cold. You were laying down there with your eyes shut for a long time. I didn't see you get up until after that turian got shot-"

_Powell. What the FUCK-_

I turned my attention back to Shepard's crew. "I was just closing my eyes to wrap my head around our situation."

"If your eyes were closed, how do you know what the turian looked like?" Shepard asked, as I alarmingly noticed that her hand was subtly moving to the pistol holstered at her side.

"Uh, I saw him before I...hid back here...I assumed that the turian Powell saw was the same one." Shepard didn't seem convinced. "And I was definitely still conscious when the two had their conversation. Fact."

_This is NOT going well. Come on, come on, you don't need their full attention. __Turn the conversation away from you. Use some of that classic misdirection of yours-_

I quickly added, "I'm still trying to get over the fact that the Geth are the ones attacking us. They haven't been seen past the veil in centuries." I turned back to Powell as I noticed him gazing at me absently. "Those creatures," I clarified.

"I could understand why you both hid, the Geth aren't something anyone's seen in a while," Alenko stated.

"Yeah, I like the way you hid behind those crates during the fight. Really helped us out. Thanks a lot," Shepard added as she stared at me with damning eyes.

I noticed Ashley staring at me too, although she seemed like she was going to murder me. Even more so than Shepard.

"If you were under my command, I would have you disavowed and shot for desertion," she suddenly spit, looking at me with disgust. "How could you hide there and abandon your squad to those things!?"

I could have sworn I saw a tear forming in the corner of her eye. After what she had been through today though, I didn't exactly blame her for her reaction.

_Wait. My squad? I AM wearing the uniform of a marine...apparently. Oh shit. I could actually even be one to my knowledge...oh...they're still looking..._

_...REPLY dumb ass!_

I spit out the first thing I thought of. "Whoa wait...I'm not actually alliance. I found this armor on a soldier who had his...head taken clean off. I thought I could maybe make a difference-"

"Obviously not," Ashley snipped back, the fury she had at me though visibly subsiding.

Powell looked around nervously. Shepard turned her attention back to him as he spoke again.

"Look...I think the turians knew each other. Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down...and he killed him. Shot him right in the back. I'm lucky he and those Gath didn't see me behind these crates."

"Where'd Saren and his _Geth_ go after he killed Nihlus?" Shepard asked immediately afterwards.

"He jumped on the cargo train and headed over to the other platform. Probably going after the beacon." He paused. "I knew that the beacon was trouble. Everything's gone to hell since we found it. First the damn mother ship showed up. Then the attack. They killed everyone! Everyone! If I hadn't been behind the crates I'd be dead too! It was-"

I had already started to tune them out, thinking of how I would get myself out of this mess. I really needed to think of my next move, because I certainly wasn't going to be left behind on Prime with this fool. As of right now, I was to their knowledge some colonist who had played soldier and hid at the first sign of trouble. Not a good way to convince them to take me off the planet with them-

_Well...do I even want to go with them? Onto the Normandy? Could I even deal with what they were going to go through? Would they even let me? I'm not a soldier, I don't have any fucking military training. And with the shit these guys are going to run into, I don't exactly fancy being thrown headfirst into all those shenanigans-_

"- while the Geth butcher everyone else!" Shepard sounded like she was letting him have it.

_Well, better him than me. _

"I don't even have a gun! What was I supposed to do? Run out there and die? I couldn't save them. Nobody could. It was... horrible." When he paused, I half thought he was going to curl back up into fetal position. Then he pointed at me. "He had a gun though! And he still dove behind here too! I thought he had gotten us both killed!"

_Powell. Oh my god. WHAT. THE. FUCK. But...okay, its gon' be like that huh? _

Although if he was telling the truth, he _was_ right. Apparently before I woke up my body had had a mind of its own. Was there a chance what I said was true? Was I just a cowardly colonist? Or could I really be a marine who abandoned his squad mates?

_Oh my god...who the hell am I?_

The thought sent chills down my spine. At least I knew I didn't just pop into existence. Or did I?

_This is stupid._

I looked up to find the Normandy crew still waiting for an answer. But out of the corner of my eye, I now noticed a predator lodged in between the two stacked crates that I had first been laying behind. The gun Powell had mentioned. I bent down to pick it up and upon standing back up, I found myself with three guns pointed at my face.

"No-no, no. No. No need for that-" I stuttered as I slowly brought my gun to my side. As it contracted into a little square on my hip, I had to fight my giddiness in light of the current situation. "I just wanted to say that I did try. I overheated my gun shooting at one of those synthetic bastards and I barely drained its shields. I didn't think our guns could kill them!"

I was pretty proud of how convincing I sounded. But Shepard just turned away.

"Come on, we have to get to that beacon."

_Oh poop._

My eyes widened as they all turned to leave.

_I am not going to be left hanging next to this guy covered in piss. Fuck this! Assuming direct control...of this situation._

As I chuckled out loud at my dank reference, the gang then turned back to me. I realized I didn't quite appear as sane as I'd like. I mean, I probably wasn't at this point. If I ever was to begin with. Powell had also started to leave before I called out his name next.

_Woah now. Not so fast. Hell, payback's a bitch you back-stabbing bum. You think you can get away with making ME look bad? _

Although to be honest, he didn't have to try very hard.

"Commander wait," I decided to say, making sure to look her dead on in the eyes. "I think Powell has something that might interest you." That caused him to wheel back around with a confused look.

"How do you know my rank?" she asked raising an eyebrow, fingering her pistol.

_Oh fuck. I really need to think of what I should actually know at this point._

"Uh, I wasn't entirely truthful with you Shepard. I recognized you as soon as I saw the N7 designation. I'm ...(_think fast_)...an investigator who was looking for...equipment that...would happen to occasionally go missing at this spaceport." My on the fly storytelling was impressing even myself. "You should ask our friend here what kind of equipment he was exactly smuggling."

After sizing me up, Shepard turned to stare daggers at Powell as he immediately tried to slink away.

"What? No! I mean... what does it matter now? So I'm a smuggler. Who cares? My supervisor's dead. The entire crew's dead. It doesn't matter now, does it?" Powell sang like a canary.

"Anything hidden nearby that we could use against the geth?" Alenko interjected.

"A shipment of grenades came through last week. Nobody notices if a few small pieces go missing from the military orders-"

"You greedy son of a bitch! We're out here trying to protect your sorry ass and all you can think about is how you can rip us off?!"

There was a lot more passion in that line then I remembered. I looked back to Powell who had begun to shrink under the women's scrutiny.

"I never thought you'd actually need those grenades! Who'd want to attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers! How was I supposed to know!"

_Really caving under the pressure huh Powell?_

I'd almost feel bad for Ham Solo here if he hadn't just tried to sell me out multiple times during the conversation.

"Really...you sure you took _just _the grenades?" I prompted next, raising an eyebrow accusingly.

"Too many people died here for you to start jerking me around!" Shepard yelled which caused both of us to shrink back into our shadows.

"Okay! Alright. There was something else. Could be worth a fortune. Experimental technology. Top of the line. Take it. I don't need it. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Really. I'm sorry."

He handed them a data pad and pointed to a crate nearby. Shepard gathered the information on her omni-tool and faced the tram station.

"We need to find that beacon before it's too late."

"Take the cargo train. That's where the other Turian went. I... I can't stay here. I need to get away from all this." And with that Powell took off for the hill, not looking back.

Then Kaidan turned to me, so far coming across as the only person in the group that was sympathetic to my situation. It seemed like it was just that time of month again for the two ladies with him-

_Oh my god, please tell me I didn't say that out loud. _

If I did, they didn't hear, as he thanked me for helping them get Powell's equipment.

"Alenko, we need to get a move on!" we heard Shepard shout as she picked up the hidden tech aforementioned and began to carry on to the train.

"Wait!"

She slowly turned to look at me, and with just that one look, I could tell she was already raring to rip me a new one.

"You've wasted enough of our time as it is, I don't have time for this."

"Look, I'm sorry we got across on the wrong foot. In your position, I know I'd react the same if I came across a marine who deserted his post." She continued to stare at me seemingly annoyed. "I just want to make it up to you. I have a pistol, and I have armor. Let me come with you. I can help, the more the merrier right?"

She eyed me as I slowly climbed over the crates over to them, leaving my sanctuary of safety for the first and unfortunately last time.

_If only I could bring you all with me-__  
_

After vaulting the crates, I immediately saw Nihlus' corpse for the first time lying behind her.

A dead Turian was still a Turian, and I had to say, he looked as alien as you could imagine. The dark pigmentation of his scaly skin largely contrasted with the white tattoos that were plastered all over his face. His noggin consisted of several distinct plates that I could discern facial features from: eyebrows, fringe, what I thought could be his nose. And as I looked more closely, I also found that his mandibles were slacked, eyes milky white, and a gaping hole laying in-between his eyes. A large puddle of azure blood lying gathering around the circumference of his head.

I fought back the bile gathering in my throat at the grotesque sight. I had never seen a dead body save for at a funeral. Let alone an alien one. My eyes moved back to Shepard who had just begun to open her lips.

"Come on," she said with a blank face. "We don't have time to waste. We have a lot of ground to cover."

And I couldn't believe my luck. Even though I still had a ways to go, it was a lot easier to convince her than I had thought. I mean really REALLY easier than I had thought. While I didn't want to be left behind, stuck in Saren's aftermath, I did find myself now wondering why she had agreed to take me so quickly. I was totally expecting to really have to plead my case here.

But despite this paranoia, a smile crept across my face.

_Well I'm not going to complain. I'm in the group. Shepard's group. Now I just have to figure out how I'll get a ride with them in the Normandy-_

"Take point. Hopefully you can at least be a distraction."

My grin quickly turned into a frown.

This Shepard was definitely not as paragon as I hoped.

Following the path ahead, we marched toward the "cargo train" in front of us, although it honestly just looked like a mobile platform from this angle. Actually, it was just a mobile platform. As I made that observation however, I stopped in my tracks as another creeping realization crossed my mind.

_I don't think I ever played through Mass Effect with a Femshep. _

As Shepard reached the corner of the space port, Ashley spoke up.

"Hey, we never got your name."

_Oh shit. I never gave them my name...oh shit...What IS my name?_

I groaned as I realized I hadn't put any thought into it. I'd just have to use my own. But as I begun to say it, something happened.

I forgot.

Normally, that would have freaked me out beyond reason but at this point, I was too panicked to care.

"MY name? My name..."

I made a mental note to figure out my background, real or not, later. For now, I just had to scramble for a name. A fake one. And of course, a silly grin plastered my face as I thought of the perfect one not a second later. Ashley looked at me like I was a mad man in response, noticeably tightening the grip on her rifle.

_I really need to work on a poker face._

"Marauder. Marauder Shield."

_Wait, was it Shield or Shields? _

Ashley raised an eyebrow after hearing it.

_Doesn't matter. Although it's probably not the most normal name for a human. But then again, with a trillion people in the galaxy, someone was bound to have it..._

"Before it's too late to introduce ourselves, I'm Lieutenant Alenko. And that's Gunnery Chief Williams. And you're apparently already familiar with-"

"Come on Shield. I said you have point," the Red Head said, interrupting Alenko.

With a frown, I reluctantly trudged on past him and Shepard, and around the last corner of the space port.

_...what the fuck._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Hey! Finally figured out how to make a line break. For future reference, I'll include any non-sequiturs here. You can expect them every now and then at the end ****of each chapter from here on out. Also wanted to add that since I didn't have room in the summary beforehand that Mass Effect is owned by Bioware and EA, and that I claim no ****ownership of the characters and properties being depicted, save one. Don't sue me bro.**

**And once we get off this god forsaken rock, hopefully we can get the ball really rolling!**

**Also, feel free to PM me or write a review! I don't write very often, so any pointers would be welcomed! Until next time gang!**


	3. Spaceport Standoff

The synthetic growls of the Geth alerted me to their presence, and my catlike reflexes immediately sprang into action. As in, I dove into the nearest cover available like a coward without a second thought. Though it seemed to be the right choice at the time as a hail of bullets subsequently sailed over my head. Shepard reaffirmed this notion as she and the rest of the crew followed my lead, rolling behind the panels on the tram as well.

"Geth ahead!"

_Oh wow. Thanks for the heads up Williams._

"Williams, push up after the next volley! Alenko, hit them with a lift field! Shield, you better give us suppressive fire!"

_Oh god_.

It happened fast. Too fast. Alenko was the first to pop up, hitting what I determined to be the nearest geth with a flare of his biotics. Blue sparks flew throughout the air as a sphere of azure was sent flying out straight from his hand. I could hear similar sparks crackling from Shephard as she followed it up with her own biotic salvo, and of course, Ashley simultaneously rolled out of cover as all of this was happening.

Now or never I thought absentmindedly, furrowing my brow as I leaned out left from the safety of the large panel hiding me.

The bright light of a Geth was the first thing I saw. In response, I immediately brought my predator level with my eyes and pulled the trigger. And the force from the recoil racked my body. Despite this event, I pulled the trigger several more times before a bullet skimming my arm sent me back into cover. A bright blue light surrounding my body flashed for a second before becoming invisible again.

_Oh THANK GOD. Alright. This thing's got shields. Good to know. Good to know._

"Look at that, you actually got one," Ashley snidely remarked shortly after, now sitting safe again behind cover. "Looks like your gun wasn't as useless as you thought."

I peeked back out from my hiding spot to see that the Geth she was referring to lay dead in the middle of the tram, silver fluid pooling around it. "Alright, I might have missed the one I shot at earlier," I lied through my teeth.

_Yeah...that was a lot easier than I thought. Didn't I only shoot like thrice!?_

I only had seconds to ponder this as I heard another growl from a panel ahead of me. I hadn't really appreciated how much of a boon the third perspective was in the game until then.

_But actually. How the hell am I supposed to fight without being able to see where they are!?...well...shit._

I gritted my teeth as I popped up from cover, attempting to take care of the pathetic nearby Geth myself. I had a second to register the 7 foot synthetic monstrosity standing before me until it sprayed a volley of shrapnel straight into my face. The force of the blast knocked my ass right back down behind cover. And then the Geth Destroyer subsequently ceased to be as it was littered with ammunition moments after. A faint _whhhrrrrrrp _sound came to my ears as my shields began to reset.

"What the hell are you doing Shield!?" Shepard yelled as everyone got out from cover and advanced further down the tram without me.

It was that close.

If it wasn't for the shields integrated into my armor, I'd have a missing head like the marine I had just made up. It would have been over just like that.

I sat there shell shocked as the fire fight continued, shots whizzing over my head. Beads of sweat dripped down my face, heart feeling like it was about to burst from my chest.

_That would've been it. I would've died on Eden Prime before Shepard even reached the beacon. If I hadn't woken up with this armor, I'd be dead. _

I brought my hands to my face to feel if my beautiful visage had been scarred by the Geth. As I padded my face, it didn't FEEL shot up, despite the absence of a helmet.

_-definitely need to remedy that as soon as possible._

I rolled my head back to stare at the blood orange sky. Its hue now seemed much darker than before.

"SHIELD!"

I woke from my stupor, her voice giving me the impression that the group had advanced much further than I had realized.

"Coming!" I shouted as I quickly gathered my thoughts, clenching the gun in my hand even tighter. Then with a deep breath, I sprang up and stormed out of cover, making a beeline straight down the middle of the tram. I sprinted down the aisle, aiming for what I thought was where Alenko was kneeling. Too late did I notice the remaining Geth at the end of the train, all exiting from cover as I did, each of their guns clearly trained on me.

The lights coming from their heads peered into my soul.

_And this is where the story ends._

Before I knew it, they had all been dropped, and I slowed to a brisk jog as the Chief shouted "Clear!"

"Looks like you're good for something," Shepard muttered sarcastically, approaching the console of the tram.

"I'm not exactly a marine," I muttered back, probably being the first truthful thing I've said all day.

Alenko looked at me concerned before he set his eyes back straight ahead as our train jerked forward. "Orders Commander?"

"The Geth will most likely be setting an ambush ahead of us. If the beacon is there, there's a good chance we'll see a large number of them too." I gulped. "Blow them away as soon as you see 'em."

I gulped again as I realized we were headed into an area that was about to do the same to us.

"Scared Shield?" the gunnery chief remarked as the train hummed, beginning to speed toward our destination.

I froze when I realized she was talking to me. Panicked, I decided to just blurt out "Nope. Haha, bring em on. Haha."

A lie of course, as that one brush with death was more than enough to send me into a fit of terror.

As the rest continued their conversation, I stood where I was on the mobile platform silently, wind blowing past my face. I really wasn't looking forward to our next encounter.

* * *

When the tram stopped, we had a few seconds of repose before the Geth popped up. Bullets...AND rockets began to rain down from a walkway above, which we had passed under earlier before pulling into the station, and the Geth even had additional support from the docking station. Shepard didn't need to yell for me to take cover as I immediately took off and dove behind the nearest crate on the spaceport's adjacent platform. In contrast, the rest of the team leaped straight into action, making short work of the Geth now assaulting our position. The only member who eventually paused in the middle of the fray was Kaidan, who when ducking back into cover, glanced back in my direction. I almost thought it was impossible to see someone's eyes grow so wide. I immediately spun around, fully suspecting a Geth to be standing behind me. But all I saw was a giant cylinder hunk of metal.

_Oh right, the bombs. The bombs made for the space port. The bombs made to specifically level the spaceport and anyone in it. Geth bombs. Those bombs._

"Demolition Charges! The Geth must have planted them!" Kaidan shouted over the next volley of Geth fire.

"What?!" Shepard yelled back.

"Hurry! We need to find them all and shut them down!" Ashley shouted back, returning fire at all the Geth who were simply standing in place as they emptied their heat sinks.

_Wow, I would have never known. Thanks for pointing that out Ashley. Bombs need to be shut off. Who woulda thunk._

I leaned out of cover and got a couple potshots off, apparently staving a particular Geth off long enough for Kaidan to run back to the detonator behind me and start disarming it.

"Shield, stick with Kaidan! Make sure to cover him!"

"Will do!" I yelled back, peeking back around my crate to suddenly find a rocket headed straight towards to me.

I blinked once before the rocket suddenly whizzed upwards from its trajectory, creating a deafening explosion above us, with the aftermath of the shock wave sending me reeling onto my butt. The Geth rocket trooper responsible was flung shortly after off the bridge, noticeably enveloped by a shimmering aura of violet. When I made eye contact with Shepard, she only grunted and turned her attention back to the Geth.

"Done!" Kaiden yelled already sprinting past me, scimitar in hand, up the ramp toward the second floor of the spaceport. Wide-eyed, I scrambled after him, blindly determined to follow the soldier in front of me.

Several minutes later, and Kaidan had defused the bombs in the corridor and atop the sky way too. Shepard and Williams were aggressively putting down whatever synthetic soldiers popped up in front of them across from us. In fact, with Kaidan focused on the bombs and me basically hiding, the two had practically cleared the entire spaceport themselves. Once Kaidan finished disarming the charge on the sky way, I followed him (albeit crouching) back towards the Commander and Williams, who were continuing down the main corridor perpendicular to ours.

That was when the Geth Prime reared its ugly head.

Now, the regular Geth troopers I have to admit, were slightly underwhelming...when they weren't shooting at us. They seemed to be around my height, possessed no extremely menacing traits, and were basically regular ol' robots that resembled the lamp from Pixar. The colossus standing in the corridor across from us on the other hand was significantly more threatening. It was colored blood red, standing out from the sterile white walls of the spaceport, and towered above a stack of crates next to it, making me guess the thing was at least 10 feet. And it also held a Geth spitfire in its hand, from what I could tell, which was basically a giant portable Geth gatling gun. Horrifying. I could really only think of one thing as it turned in our direction.

_I wonder what Powell's up to right now._

"Look at the size of that thing!" Alenko spurted out as its gun began to thrum. Across from us, Williams barely had time to fall back to Shepard's position before the crate she was hiding behind was blown away by a sudden burst of energy.

"Lieutenant, I need an overload ASAP!"

"You got it Commander!" Snapping back to reality, a dazzling display of electricity shortly enveloped the Prime before its shields were visibly dropped. Wasting no time, Shepard immediately slammed it with a lift and as it helplessly floated in the air, Ashley and I unloaded the rest of our ammunition into the monstrosity. I unintentionally closed my eyes while firing, so I wasn't quite sure if I was actually helping or not. In any case, I opened them in time to find its limp frame hit the ground, as Shepard's mass effect field wore off around it.

_What the...I know for a FACT you can't use Lift on Primes...so...how did Shepard just do that? Welp, guess that's another question I can add to the list._

I sighed and took a moment to compose myself before I followed Kaidan over to the rest of the group.

"It looks like the area's clear Commander."

"I can see that Alenko. Come on, we need to go find that beacon."

_Either Shepard's biotic game is unbelievable or...something's fucky._

In light of the mysteries ongoing, our group moved towards the ramp leading down to the Prothean relic. And as we did, I felt something still gnawing away at the back of my mind. I'm pretty sure it was just due to the earlier exchange though. The firefight had really taken its toll. I could barely hear the conversation between Shepard and Kaidan because of the ringing in my ears, and you know, the shock of almost dying thrice really did rattle my mind. The pumping adrenaline in my system didn't help too, making it kind of hard to focus on where I even was at this point.

_Oh my god. Three times. Three times I've already escaped from the jaws of death. Death by shotgun to the face. Death by explosion. Death by giant robot. All of them fairly traumatic. What the hell. I mean...three times. Three..._

I gasped dramatically, as I realized we had missed the fourth.

Kaidan turned around. "What is it?"

"There's another detonator!" I exclaimed, attracting the attention of Williams and Shepard as well.

"What are you-"

Shepard didn't have time to finish the thought as the howls of husks filled the air. The shrieks themselves filled me with as much terror as the thought of being atomized did.

"Kaidan, I need you down here now!" Shepard yelled as she emptied a shotgun round into a husk that had just tried to leap on top of her. As Alenko began to move, I tugged on his shoulder.

"There's another detonator behind those crates!" I tried telling him over the added fire of Geth entering the battle. He blinked at me once before Shepard yelled again.

"ALENKO! I need some biotics NOW!" He blinked at me again before turning away.

He hadn't heard me.

"Shepard behind you!"

The Commander didn't need Williams' warning as she spun around and threw the Destroyer behind her clear into a stack of crates with a mass effect field.

_What do I do. What do I do. __What do I do-_

I looked to Shepard below me. As her gaze met mine, we ended up staring at each other for several seconds before I turned to sprint away, towards the end of the Station's balcony. The look she had given me as I ran off racked my conscious with guilt.

_...but why do I feel guilty? I'm not hiding dammit! I'm saving their damn lives!_

Or at least I was going to try as I turned the corner we had previously ignored. And of course, there was the bomb, having been hidden behind another wall of crates.

_So...how hard can this be? All it took was some button mashing in the game. Once I finish, I'll be a hero and the group will take me with them on the SR-1 fo sho._

Once I actually looked at the rig in front of me, I realized my fantasy's fault.

_...this really isn't like the game. _

The bomb had a screen containing symbols that I could only discern to be Geth in origin, with wires weaving in and out between the cylinders constituting it. I had absolutely no clue what to do. There were no triangle or y buttons in sight. I ended up staring at it for a good long while before I noticed the symbols on the screen next move from two columns to one. I could tell I was out of time. I was just about to yank out a handful of wires when I heard him.

"Do you need a hand with that?"

I barely had time to glance up before Kaidan saddled up next to me, immediately pulling out some wires and begin to type away on his omnitool. And this is how it went, as he repeated this process several times, pulling out a cable and then sending a series of commands to the detonator's interface from his handheld.

The detonator's screen went blank when Kaidan finally shut down his orange device.

"Thanks," I said, stunned at how close we had all just been to death.

"Should have been a little louder, I almost didn't hear you." I opened my mouth but closed it again as he asked his next question. "How did you know there was another bomb?"

_Alright. Note to self- stop doing this. Knowledge really is a two edged sword. Mental note - Keep track of what you say and how you say it. _

I was still thinking of how to answer his question when Shepard yelled for us to get back to her position. After walking back down the ramp, Kaidan defended me from the Commander, and how we all would have been blown sky high if I hadn't alerted them to the last detonator. As he did, all I could really focus on were the Geth and Husk bodies littered across the cargo bay. My attention was especially drawn to the Husks. They strongly resembled cybernetic skeletons-

_Which they were..._

-And god did they look terrifying. Their faces were hella unsettling.

_The Husks depicted in the trailer for Mass Effect 3 really were spot on hm...and I'm going to be damned before I let the Geth do that shit to ME._

I noticed a Husk's mouth to my left still opening and closing, resembling a fish out of water, seemingly gasping for air. In response, I lifted my Predator and shot it in the head to put out its misery. I shot one more time for good measure.

_...because you should never forget Rule #2. Double tap._

God would I do great in a zombie apocalypse.

Unfortunately, I was in an entirely different genre. Kind of. As I pulled the trigger a second time however, I felt an abnormal rush shoot through me. Like Jon Travolta had just stuck me with a hypodermic needle full of adrenaline. And surprisingly, it felt fantastic. It was amazing. Like I could suddenly take on that seven foot Geth destroyer that had knocked me back on my ass. My vision even became a little blurry too. Although that was concerning, I brushed it off, chalking it up to the fact that I was a bit woozy. Deciding to turn away from the dead Husk lying in front of me, vision getting blurry, yellow, and a bit trippy at the same time, and still feeling manic, was when the main center piece of the docking area finally caught my attention.

It was the first time I had actually noticed it too, strangely enough. And I don't know how I had missed it in the first place.

_ The Prothean beacon. _

The enormous black obelisk ahead of me towered over the entire spaceport, with a faint green light emanating from its bodice. Its design was sleek, essentially just a large slab of metal, but it was still breathtaking. And I couldn't find a single seam in its design. How the Protheans could have built the thing without any visible seams was beyond me. And then, I again wondered how the hell I hadn't noticed it before with how freakin' large it was.

_Was it even this big in the game?_

I stared at it absently for a good amount of time before eventually returning to our current situation and pulling myself away.

_...Mmmm okay. Odd. It's not THAT interesting..._

I looked back to see Shepard wave Kaidan off, stare at me and then turn back around without saying a word. Apparently Kaidan's defense of my actions was convincing enough for Shepard to not reprimand me for my apparent cowardice.

Then she radioed Joker. "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac-"

Kaidan and Williams walked past Shepard and I to get a closer look at the beacon.

"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology! Unbelievable!"

_Oh shit._

"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up. Something must have activated it."

_The entire reason the beacon was in the game slipped my mind...again...just like everything else. Dammit._

I glanced back over my shoulder. Shepard, who was still chatting with the Normandy, was also walking towards the ramp at the opposite end of the spaceport.

_Shepard, oh my god, what are you doing?! You're way too far from the beacon! Oh noooo-_

I began to open my mouth before a bright flash of light briefly stunned me. I turned back around to see Kaidan grabbing his head; his L2's most likely flaring up from the display of light. And I found Williams was to be the one being pulled toward the beacon. My eyes widened in response.

_OH shit oh shit-It's happening...Is this-_

I furrowed my brow.

_...I'm the one who's supposed to receive the visions._

I began to sprint toward Williams before I suddenly felt Shepard shove me aside. With freakish speed, she then jumped up and threw the chief out of the energy field that was surrounding her. Losing my balance, I landed flat on my face right below the woman.

"SHEPARD!" Williams shouted as she sprang right back up from where she was flung.

"No! Don't touch her! It's too dangerous!" Kaidan said behind me, restraining her, apparently having already recovered from his short-lived headache.

Then I begun to feel a weird sensation travel throughout my body. Looking down at the metal boards of the floor, I found them surprisingly getting smaller and smaller. I then saw Kaidan and Williams come into view below.

_Shit._

As I levitated in the air upside down, I had just begun to grasp the situation before I felt Shepard's boots touching mine. Then I felt her give a strong push.

"Alenko grab-" she tried to shout before a further burst of energy emanated from the beacon.

Her action had actually had me floating back towards the ground before my head was blasted with a deafening scream.

I shut my eyes when the sound assaulted my ears, the unpleasant cacophony that came after it sounding like nails being dragged along a chalkboard. Immediately after I shut them, textures, shapes, images, pictures, scenes, worlds flitted by one after another. The incoherent chattering/screams of long forgotten races accompanied them. The chaotic nature of the message pervaded my brain, snaked through my every thought. The sounds and images slithering through my head were too much, and I screamed in horror only to find no sound leaving my mouth.

Then everything became Black, then nothing.

I gasped for air upon release.

I had seen the vision on my television numerous times, but it did not even come close to conveying the horrors I had just witnessed. If I hadn't been insane, I surely was now. I very, very, VERY, slowly began to open my eyes.

_...wait...wasn't-_

A bright flash of green assaulted my pupils one last time as the beacon then shattered in front of us. The front of my body was seared by the following explosion, and I gotta tell ya, the impact of the explosion itself really fucking hurt too. I could hear Kaidan yell in agony, the light show from the beacon causing his implants to flare up again. And I personally hit the ground face first, which just added to the scene of unpleasantry.

I could hear Shepard land with a thud farther behind me.

"Shepard!" Williams yelled again, immediately rushing to her side first.

I groaned as I tried push myself off the ground.

_This has not been a pleasant day._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So you might ask "Stache, did we get a POV from Shepard in the last chapter?" And to that I would respond "Who are you talking to? You're alone in your room. Weirdo."**

**Actually, if can see the story summary, I have three characters that I plan to have POV's for, which are the OC, Shepard, and Joker (who'll probably just have like 3). The next chapter might favor our current hero a little bit but we'll definitely see the other two come Chapter 5. And I can safely say they will be much longer than the 5 lines I had given Shepard in Chapter 2.**

**You might also ask "Stache, I keep getting notifications for when you update your story. But I don't see any new chapters? Why are you spamming my mail!?"**

**To that question, all I can say is Sorryyyyyyyyyy.**

**As one can tell, this story is in desperate need of editing. After hammering out a chapter, I'll go over it a couple times before I'm semi-satisfied with it and then upload it here. Then I go over it again for any wording I don't particularly like and put up POV blocks. Once I'm done, then I publish publicly to the story. Of course, there are STILL many mistakes or things I don't like, so I'll go back, edit it, and reload it. I've already done this a couple times to those who get the updates (IF you guys are even alerted to this stuff).**

**Tbh, I don't know if those of you following get alerts for chapter editing or just for new ones being added but I advise you disable the alerts for when an existing chapter is edited if that's actually a thing. I know you all might not even notice the changes rereading the chapter, but I do, at least, which is reason enough for me to comb over these things time to time. And I gotta tell ya, one can only read a line so many times before it begins to look like gibberish. **

**Anyways, just wanted to give an explanation for why it seems like I'm spamming your inbox with updates on my story. Its not because I'm trying to boost views to inflate my own ego. It's big enough as it is. It's honestly just because I'm fixing the story so I don't cringe every time I rereading it myself.**

**In any case, thanks for understanding!**

**Until next time, catch y'all later!**


	4. Beacon Blues

"SHEPARD!" Williams shouted as she rushed to her side.

By the time I got to my feet, I saw now that both soldiers were huddled over Shepard, obviously concerned over her well-being.

"She has a pulse," Kaidan said, taking his fingers off her neck.

"Hey, don't worry guys, I'm fine too," I groaned, which found myself a glare from Williams, which I promptly ignored. "Alenko, she's probably only unconscious." I winced as I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. "See if you can radio the Normandy to...have the med bay ready for her though...just in case."

He hovered over her for a few more seconds before looking up. "Right."

"Who died and put you in charge?" the chief suddenly interjected.

"Just trying to help," I replied back, returning her gaze.

I then noticed Kaidan also eyeballing me as he talked to the SR-1 over his headpiece.

_What? What did I say?_

He looked at me for a couple more seconds before turning to the Chief.

"Hey Williams, he had the right idea," Kaidan said getting off the radio. "Joker found a spot to land but it's a ways off. We're going to have to carry her to the ship. Grab her other arm." He lifted Shepard on his shoulder. Ashley made a move to do the same.

"Wait!" They both looked up. "What if we get ambushed on the way?" I stammered. "Wouldn't one of you two be better equipped to cover whoever carries the Commander back to the ship?"

Ashley looked at me grudgingly. "...don't drop her."

"Yeah, of course," I said smiling back, hefting Shepard's left arm over my shoulder.

_Sweet._

* * *

The walk back was silent and relatively peaceful. Which was a quite welcome surprise. Progress however was slow, as Ashley regularly made hand motions to halt, scouting ahead for any drones that might have been patrolling our area.

As we hiked further up the hill, I revisited what had gone down at the spaceport.

As much as I hated to admit it, I was useless back there. Since I had only killed two Geth, though it was a personal best, I could be sure that my skill with a gun wouldn't get me any special recommendations from the squad. While carrying Shepard at least got me to the Normandy, I still had to figure out a way to get ON to the Normandy. And looking at my skills, I obviously had no intrinsic talent for tech either. My failure in disarming the bomb proved that. So neither were quite going to help my case well-

_Huh, speaking of tech..._

My eyes lit up as the faint orange glow of an omni-tool appeared around my right hand.

"What are you doing?" Kaidan said as he glanced over to me, puzzled.

"Oh, uh, wasn't sure if it was working or not. Just, uh, wanted to check."

_Uh...Omni-tool power down?_

It faded away.

_Well...that's ballin' as shit._

I turned my attention back to the task at hand.

_So...mental note on progress. I have armor. I have a gun. I have an omni-tool. What I don't have is a story to get me onto the Normandy. I don't think just carrying Shepard back will get me on the ship with Kaidan and Williams._

And then I mulled the thought over for a second...

_Wait...why was Williams even invited onto the Normandy in the first place?_

She was just some random soldier Shepard and Kaidan ran into on the way there. And the same went for Garrus, Wrex, and Tali for that matter. I guess one reason Williams was recruited was because she was part of the Alliance. The rest of them though were all just random aliens you kind of just ran into during the game. Total strangers you afterwards just let onto the ship and join your crew.

_Well at least they could all handle themselves in a fight..._

That was clear enough. I didn't have Tali's smarts, Garrus' skill with a rifle, or Wrex's form of panache going for me. So again, I revisited my own scenario.

_Did I actually have any skills of my own that I could market? It definitely didn't seem like I woke up with any special talents. No noticeable skills with a gun, no Biotics, no nothing. I did get the Prothean vision along with Shepard but..._

_...Yeah. I really don't want to relive that experience in any way, shape or form._

All I had besides that was again, my armor, my predator and apparently an omni-tool.

_Well...those and..._

As the thought suddenly gripped me, I dissected it thoroughly in my head.

_Hm...yeah...that...that might actually work..._

And then the grin spread across my face. If the story didn't get me into the Normandy as one of the crew, it would at least intrigue them enough to take me along with them.

Score.

After what seemed like hours of carrying her, Shepard was now beginning to get heavy.

I looked out across the large valley to our left. It extended as far as my eyes could reach, but any picturesque view of this scene was obscured by the large columns of smoke rising from the lowland. Giant towers black with char burned along the valley's ridge. The planet itself had grown darker still, with smog still yet choking the sky. Actually observing the horizon for the first time...it looked like the planet itself was dying.

"There it is."

I turned my ahead away from the bleak landscape and back to the path ahead. Past a small group of trees was, yes, the Normandy, docked in the clearing, surrounded by what seemed to be the walls of a quarry. I could only see its back, but the sight was still incredible, the scale of the ship itself tremendous.

A large ramp slowly lowered from the Normandy as we got closer.

Sweet.

Then, who could only be Captain Anderson, followed by a retinue of guards, walked out from it to greet us. Williams who had taken point the entire trek decided to fall behind us with their appearance. And once we reached them, Kaidan freed his arm to give a salute to Anderson, who had stopped at the end of the ramp. Following the action, I struggled to support Shepard's limp body on my own.

"How bad is it?" he questioned, looking down at Shepard's head. It was dangling unceremoniously several inches above the ground. I struggled to get her upright until Anderson's wing-men helped pick her up.

"She's still breathing, but best get Doctor Chakwas to have a look," Kaidan said as he watched them lay her on a stretcher and carry her back into the Normandy.

"Already planned too," Anderson replied. Then, clearly disturbed, he continued "What the hell happened down here?"

He glanced toward me quickly and then did a double take. He stared at me long and hard before moving his eyes over my shoulder. "I thought this was Jenkins." he said, returning to look at Alenko. "What-"

"Hey Captain?" I overheard from Anderson's headpiece. "Are we gonna take off anytime soon? Because I reallllllly don't think this is the best place to sit down and have a nice chat."

_That voice. Could it...oh it has to. Oh man. Classic Joker._

"No, you're right. Start her up. We're leaving now." He ushered us inside the cargo bay as the thrusters of the Normandy begun to thrum. Once the ramp locked into place behind us, the entire ship seemed to lurch forward. I then felt a slight sense of vertigo as the Normandy propulsed itself away from the ground, and as I also assumed, left the planet's surface. Still following him across the cargo bay, Anderson stopped short of the elevator and turned back around to face our group.

"I need a rundown of what exactly happened on that planet lieutenant."

"It was bad Captain. Once we made landing, we only got a short distance before we were ambushed. Jenkins-"

_I wouldn't have thought that we'd be debriefed in the garage..._

As the story went on, I took stock of my surroundings. Behind my left was the Mako, the BTR tank of tomorrow, sort of also resembling a large, futuristic range rover at the same time. Unlike the conventional range rover, it had a pretty sizable mass accelerator cannon attached on its top. I looked on in wonder as I imagined all the amazing adventures that we would have in it.

_I swear, everything so far has been pretty freakin' sweet..._

"-called Saren-"

I looked back in time to see Anderson's shock when Kaidan dropped Saren's name. But who cares about that.

Deciding to turn to the right now, I could see the team's lockers, work bench, and the containers that would soon become Wrex's space. The area still felt like a weird place to stop and have a conversation however. You'd think they do this in the conference room or something. Then I looked back to Anderson and noticed for the first time that there were still two marines standing behind him, eyeing me. Suspiciously.

_Oh. Now that makes sense...you wouldn't want to invite complete strangers onto your secret warship, would you? You're screening us first. Clever._

Which meant that just because I was on the Normandy didn't mean I was completely out of the woods yet.

_Just my luck. Welp. Here we go~_

I rehearsed my lines a couple more times before Kaidan wrapped up his story. "- and then we arrived here at the LZ."

Anderson glanced at me peripherally before turning to Williams. "So...you're the last of the 212?"

"Yes sir," she said somberly.

"I saw the destruction from up here. I can't imagine what it was like on the ground." He paused. "I'm sorry for your loss Ms..."

"Miss Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams Sir!"

I noticed the beginnings of a small smirk take in the corner of his lips. "Well _Chief_ Williams, if Alliance Command approves it...how would you feel about being transferred to the crew of the Normandy? We could use someone of your expertise."

She was clearly awestruck by the offer.

"I..It'd be an honor sir!"

"Good, then Private Fredricks will give you a tour of the ship while we get the request processed. I'd like a mission report later from you too."

"Of course sir!"

The Chief saluted and then followed Fredricks into the elevator, with the door shutting quickly behind them. Then the man turned in my direction next. And looking up to him, I just now realized how much the man towered over me. In fact, the man must have been around 6'5 or something. And in addition to his already intimidating figure, I now found that the Captain was staring at my face with an incredibly intense look. I already felt myself shrinking back into the armor I was wearing.

"And you're...the Alliance investigator they found?"

_Oh. Right. Go time._

"Oh, Alenko must've misspoke. I'm not with the Alliance...Captain. Just a free-lance investigator hired to take care of a small smuggling problem." I took a breath before I gave them the rest of the spiel. "And I just want to say thanks for allowing me on your vessel. Really needed a ride out of there...so if there's anything I could do for you, just let me know. I'd be glad to help! Whether it be helping around the ship or giving a detailed account of the turian that killed-"

"Are you sure Saren was his name?" Anderson abruptly interjected, face now very grave.

"Uh...yeah, it was definitely him." Then to really sell it, I decided to add, "I'd recognize that Turian Spectre anywhere."

"You know of him?" Anderson looked surprised.

"What? Of course I do! How could I not?!" I turned to Kaidan feigning a look of surprise. "The youngest Turian to be inducted into the Spectres? The guy who single-handedly wiped out the Grim Skulls? One of the most out-spoken alien critics of the Systems Alliance and huMANITY ITSELF!?...Yeah I've heard of him."

_And my mom said that video games would never help me in life..._

_...although all of that information did just come from a book._

_Whatever._

"A lot of that isn't widely known information," Anderson replied sternly.

"When you have the job I do, you tend to end up getting dirt on a lot of people, regardless of whether you want it or not." He arched an eyebrow at me. "I'm positive it was him. Mean looking bastard, silver skin, blue cybernetic eyes, a giant hunk of metal for a-" I took a moment to think.

_Which side?!_

"— left arm...?" Anderson closed his eyes in frustration at hearing this. "I can't see why one of the council's most trusted Spectres would lead a massacre like this though," I thought out loud next. "Especially with such a strange ally as the Geth."

Anderson opened his eyes again. "And you're sure Saren and the Geth were working together?"

"If they weren't, they didn't give a rat's ass when he walked into a group of them and started ordering them around."

"Captain, the other colonist we found with him reported the same thing."

Anderson brought a hand to his face. "The Council is not going to like hearing this...If this is true, they're going to want evidence."

_This was my ticket in._

Anderson now turned to the other marine behind him. "Emerson. Open a channel with Ambassador Udina. I'll need to speak with him in a moment."

Emerson nodded and entered the elevator that had just returned to the garage.

I saw my chance and took it. "Hey, that guy killed a lot of good folks down there. If testifying as a witness could help, I'd be glad to. It's the least I can do for you since you guys practically saved my life," I said, just as I had rehearsed.

"I appreciate that Mister...Shield was it?" he asked again.

"Uh yup, glad to help!"

Anderson stared at me, bizarrely I admit, for a good amount of time before he turned to Kaidan and spoke. "This entire situation stinks to high heaven...it certainly won't help our case when they hear that the beacon was destroyed..."

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure that would have happened regardless of whether or not you picked it up," I prattled.

He looked back to me. "When you and Shepard were attacked by the beacon, did anything out of the ordinary happen? Alenko said it had you both in some kind of energy field for quite a while. And that both of you were apparently caught in some kind of trance?"

"I can't remember exactly what happened," I lied. "I...You should ask Shepard about that when she wakes up. She'll probably be able to tell you more than me. She was a lot closer to it."

Anderson sighed and motioned for us to follow him into the elevator that had just come back down.

After he pushed the button for the next floor, he turned around to face us again. "Alenko, I'm leaving it up to you for where...our guest will be staying while he's on board." His eyes met mine. I felt his eyes peer into my soul. Like he could see right through me. "Please, make yourself at home while you're on the Normandy." He then paused for a second, and I almost felt like he was waiting for me to say something. "...Just be mindful of what you touch." Turning his back to both of us as the elevator opened again, he finished with an "If you'll excuse me, I need to file a report on this."

As Anderson walked away briskly, Kaidan sighed, taking that as his queue to give me a tour.

"So uh...I guess let me show you where our bunks are."

We turned around the corner of the elevator and entered the dining hall. Or cafeteria. It basically just consisted of a long table smack dab between two bulkheads. Past that were some lockers and the console Kaidan usually stood by all game. The bunk room itself wasn't much further away, just past all this stuff and at the end of hallway where the sleeping pods used to be. Entering the dark room, we found a couple crew members already catching some snooze in the beds.

"If you need anything, I'll be at the station over there writing my mission brief," he whispered, pointing pointed back towards the dining area. "I guess you should try to catch some rest before we dock too. But if you got injured or need a quick checkup though, the med bay is over there." He motioned to Chakwas' office. "...nice meeting you," he didn't forget to add before turning around.

He only took a couple of steps before I stopped him for just one more important question.

"Before you go...could you point me to the bathroom?"

* * *

I struggled for a looooong time before I finally figured out how to unlatch the bottom portion of my armor. And I let out a sigh of relief after I finished the task. Standing there in front of the urinal, I already began to think of my next move.

_If I remember right, Shepard's going to wake up in like twelve to fifteen hours. So I have a bunch of time to kill. If I reveal that I received the same vision as Shepard when she wakes up, that would definitely score me some brownie points for sure. Although, if I had to relive the vision again after getting the Prothean Cipher or every time Liara wants to meld or if we touch another beacon...actually no, I don't think I could handle it. _

The mere thought of the experience at the spaceport chilled me to the bone. I firmly decided against it.

_I'm not going to mention it if they don't ask. And now that that's decided, I'm still only with the Normandy gang until Saren's trial receives a verdict. I have from here until then to come up with a plan to ingratiate myself with the crew..._

I sighed as I finished up at the latrine and waddled over to the sink, continuing my train of thought.

_...am I still sticking with this elaborate back story?_

With what I was claiming, I could expect extreme back lash if it didn't work out as planned. But...

_It's the only option where I can use the sole ace up my sleeve no questions asked._

After splashing some water on my face, I lazily looked up to the mirror to look at myself. I then froze upon seeing the face staring back.

_...that's new._

While strange, it was a face I was familiar with. Kind of.

It was angular, possessing a jawline that could chisel granite. Black hair covered its head, kept short and parted to the side. Dark brown eyes stared back at me, sitting below thick eyebrows slanted down, giving the owner a constant look of disappointment. An aquiline nose was placed between the eyes, with the rest of the face plagued by an immense amount of stubble.

_This is the Shepard I'm familiar with._

Though the face also looked fatigued. The eyes staring back at me were sunken in with bags under them, looking like they hadn't rested in ages. The creases lining it told me that this was someone probably just entering their 30's too. Tall, Dark and Handsome Mark Meer had seen better days. But the face I looked at could definitely be one of a gruff PI. One to fit my story.

_Well well well...isn't this just cliché after cliché..._

"So," I began to recap in my head.

_I have no memory of my name or personal information, and only woke up with memories of what I had done over my past week. While I can picture the faces of loved ones, I just can't remember their names. And B, along with apparently losing my memories, I have also apparently taken on the appearance of Shepard...My Shepard. _

Though I noticed it was not quite a carbon copy of the "Commander" I knew. His hair was much darker than what I had made it in game. 'Shepard' was paler than I had remembered too.

_Might be the light. Might be due to the switch from 2n__d__ gen console graphics to real life..._

Whatever the reason, I decided I had stared at my face long enough, and turned off the faucet.

I let out a long yawn after exiting the bathroom, having spent another good chunk of time re-latching my armor's lower straps. Some shut-eye couldn't hurt I thought as I walked back toward the bunk room. But there was just one more thing I needed to do...

_Omni-tool..._

It didn't appear.

_Omni-tool...Activate!_

Nothing.

I waved my hand around a couple of times before it finally showed up.

_I thought you responded to thought._

It flickered.

_Hmmmmm, well then...Omni-tool...search "Commander Shepard" on the extranet._

Nothing happened. And so I ended up fiddling around with it in bed for a while before just settling for the alarm function. Which still took an inordinate amount of time to do too.

_Eleven hours...that should give me more than enough time to get acquainted with the crew before Shepard woke up in the medbay._

I yawned again as my eyes got heavier and heavier.

_Well...the war zone I survived today has certainly been draining hasn't it body..._

As I curled up into the inviting warmth of the bed, it grew harder and harder to worry about my current situation.

_Memory loss. New identity. Different galaxy?...I can sort it all out tomorrow. In fact...there might not even be a tomorrow. I might even wake up from this!_

I closed my eyes and readily drifted asleep.

And then my retinas' were immediately burned by a searing white light.

_MY EYESSS, OH GOD, CAN I NOT GET JUST ONE SECOND OF PEACE?!_

Blinking hard, I tried to find where the light had emanated from. But once my eyes adjusted, all I saw was darkness. I pondered for a second if I had gone blind before I saw my arm in front of me. Which told me that everything was just really...dark. There was no other way to describe it. It was like someone had just thrown me out the air lock. I immediately wondered if it had something to do with the Prothean vision. But I really hope it didn't.

_Huh...speaking of airlocks and Protheans...Javik...I cannot wait to meet YOUR Prothean ass..._

I dwelled on the fact that I could have just spent the next few years of my life looking for him back on Eden Prime before I was distracted by something coming into focus out of the abyss.

A blue-tinted square had just slowly flickered into existence before me.

It quickly grew larger and larger, the images on its surface became sharper and sharper.

_Is that really a..._

I took a second to register what was in front of me.

Skill Rank (0-7)

Pistol - 0

Shotguns - 0

Assault Rifles - 0

Sniper Rifles - 0

Adrenaline Rush - 0

First Aid - 0

Electronics - 0

Decryption - 0

Fitness - 0

Combat Mastery - 0

Persuasion - 0

*Locked*

_Available Points: 3_

Three things crossed my mind.

1:

_Is this for real?...Because this is stupid._

_2:_

_And what does each of these ranks go to? Is that...seven? What the hell does that mean? And if I only get three of these per mission...this will take forever to max._

3:

_...And this really is a fucking video game. Jesus Christ. I'm really insane aren't I?_

_4:_

_...OH SHIT, DOES THIS MEAN I CAN'T SLEEP?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-_

* * *

Author's Notes:

**Alrighty, sooooo I had this whole concept for the story that our hero would "get more skilled" over the course of his travels with Shepard. It was kinda derailed by the restrictions of converting word documents to FF's story format. A beautiful data table when I copied and pasted it, all the skills and their bonus abilities turned into a jumbled mess when I opened the file. The spacing and imaginary margins I created unfortunately did not stay either. I really wanted to include this plot point though which is why you have this sad, chintzy string of words before you. As our story progresses, you'll get updates on his progress with it, and hopefully you'll be able to see these changes within the narrative too. But is it really what Shield thinks it is? Only time will tell-**

**In the Next Chapter: Joker's Two-Cents, Shepard Awakens, and Hello Council!**

**Tune in Next Time for 'Mass Effective : A Hero Made'!**


	5. Crew Concerns

"And the beacon...?"

"One of the humans might have used it."

Argh.

It jerked his head.

RaaRGH.

It threw his chair across the room.

ARGHHH.

It gripped her face with his talons.

Her azure eyes showed no hint of fear as he peered into them.

He spoke.

"...This...Human...must be eliminated."

* * *

One of the Normandy's many screens lit up before him.

_A spike in the primary core huh?...let's see if trimming the compensators helps with that..._

He clicked one of the flashing buttons on the display before him.

"Joker, the number eleven lithium heat sink just started venting, and it looks like the one across from it is too. Did you do something to the thrusters?"

_Sigh._

"I saw a spike in the Normandy's drive core. So I just adjusted the compensators to decimal one-two-"

"That would explain it. Joker, if the ship's drive cores are ever acting up like that, you should just reduce the amount of Hydrogen reacting in the thruster's reaction chambers. Doing that reduces the strain on the engines and reduces our heat emissions too."

Joker struggled to keep a straight face after hearing that. "Rosey, as you know, doing that that would reduce the Normandy's maneuverability. And I don't know if you noticed, but I just had to _maneuver_ past a fleet of Geth warships."

He definitely had not been expecting to do that when he woke up this morning.

"You're right. Although generating all that heat and releasing it kind of defeats the purpose of the ship's stealth systems. And that's _Ensign Draven_ to you."

"And I thought my _mom_ was a bad backseat driver."

Rosey rolled her eyes and swiveled her chair back around to her haptic interface.

_Besides, if the Geth had seen us, you could be sure I would still be using the Tantalus core to be moving us instead of the ship's thrusters. Whenever the Normandy's IES isn't in use, the ship put off enough heat to signal our position to anyone in the system holding a thermometer._

He wouldn't have risked it if they had still been anywhere near Eden Prime.

Joker turned his attention back to the Normandy's window and looked on in wonder at the view before him.

_Ah, the great endless expanse of space...man it creeps me the hell out. We have enough psychopathic aliens to deal with on a regular basis without evil robots appearing out of the blue to kill us all too._

His memories of their most recent mission were still fresh in his mind. He patted the arm of his chair tenderly.

_Glad I got to put you through your paces and see what you got though baby. If it wasn't for your stealthyness and me being the best god damn helmsman in the fifth fleet, we'd probably be drifting around in space right now._

He shuddered reflexively at the thought.

And had he even been thanked? There was no, "Hey Joker, thanks for bravely landing in the middle of a warzone and idling in the area despite the fleet of enemy cruisers patrolling the sky," or "Wow Joker, you're sooooo amazing. I wish I could be as cool as you!" There hadn't even been as much as a pat on the back.

_Ingrates._

He heard the sound of boots clanking along the bridge toward him.

_The Captain was still reporting the mission to the pencil pushers on the Citadel. And already got introduced to the newest marine taking Jenkins' place...go__d rest his soul. And after a mission, Kaidan tends to spend a lot of time doing who knows what at his little station down below. So that only leaves..._

He swiveled his chair around.

"Don't worry Commander, you don't have to thank me for anything. I just prefer-" He stopped talking when he actually laid eyes on the individual before him. "You're not Shepard."

He had thought it'd been Kaidan for a second before he actually sized up the guy.

He was about the same height, had the same suit, with the only real difference between him and Kaidan being the amount of facial hair this guy had. That and the fact that he made the Lieutenant look like a kid fresh out of boot camp. A smile formed across the stranger's face.

"Sorry to disappoint you. I can take a message for her if you'd like."

Joker glanced around at the rest of the crew on the bridge to see if they had noticed him.

_Is there a complete stranger standing in the middle of our ship orrrrr am I just seeing things again?_

"Do I, uh, know you?" he asked squinting at the new guy.

"No, I don't believe we've had the pleasure. The name's Shield...Marauder Shield. Thought I'd just come up to say thanks to the guy who saved our asses."

Joker decided to indulge him.

"Well, you found him. Chief Helmsman First Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. But you can just refer to me as...Joker."

"Nice to meet ya...Joker." He cracked a smile at the word. "I'm guessing you were the one I overheard from Anderson's radio."

Joker looked quizzically at him. "Yeah, that might've been me."

Shield crossed his arms in front of him. "I didn't realize the Alliance allowed crewmen to back sass their commanding officers."

_Wow. I've known this guy for like two seconds and he's already criticizing me. Just what I need._

He didn't make an attempt to hide his irritation. "Well, none of those guys are as talented as me. When you're the most skilled pilot in the Alliance, you're allowed to have some snark. If I wasn't flying this here ship, I'd probably be making a fortune navigating Eezo rigs along the stars."

He waved his hand across the room for emphasis. Rosey butted in.

"Better not let the Captain hear that or he might help make your dream come true."

"You always have to just rain on my parade, don't cha," Joker snipped back.

"Someone's gotta keep you in line up here while the Captain's busy."

"You should just learn to tune him out like we do," Ensign Gladstone piped in next to her. "We'd all go insane otherwise."

"Oh ha ha."

The stranger had started chuckling himself before wincing in pain, holding his side. He was obviously taking a little too much pleasure in how Joker was being viciously attacked by his coworkers. The two servicemen continued their little chat while the guy started to stare absently at them.

"So uh...I'm guessing you came in with the landing team?"

He didn't respond.

"Uh, hello?"

He jerked his head back to Joker, apparently engrossed in their conversation.

"Oh sorry, I must've spaced for a moment," he said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, happens to me all the time. So, judging by your appearance, were you part of the 212 down on Prime? The new girl mentioned that was her unit, Chief...ahh what was her name...I wanna say...Kimberly?"

He stared past Joker into the Normandy's shutter window.

"I just happened to see the guy responsible for the attack. I'll just be here with you all until we reach the Citadel for the guy's trial."

"Well, it just so happens that we'll be reaching it pretty soon. Should only be about an hour or so before we get to the relay."

His eyebrows raised slightly after hearing that and looked down at his arm, activating his omni-tool. He started clicking it. Then he kept clicking it. He opened and closed the same application at least six times. Joker gave him a strange look.

_...is this guy for real?_

"Looks like you're having some trouble with your omni-tool there bud."

He looked back up, cheeks flushing red. "Uh, yeah...it's a...new model, so still haven't quite figured out to how use it..." He looked back down, continuing to clack away on it. Apparently he thought pressing the button harder would fix the problem.

"Since my alarm went off, I haven't been able to figure out how to get the time to come up on this thing."

Joker just continued to stare at him as he futilely tried to get it to work.

"It looks like you're just opening and closing the extranet there."

He looked back up.

"Oh."

_Oh my god, has this guy never used an omni-tool before?_

"...Have you never used an omni-tool before?" Joker inquired, arching his brow.

He sighed, glancing to the other members of the bridge who had returned to being preoccupied with their duties. "Honestly?...No."

Joker tried to hide the look of surprise on his face to no avail.

"Wow, what rock have you been living under?" Joker blurted as he usually did. Shield shifted uncomfortably with the comment.

"I never really had much use for one up until recently," he started. "Could never really justify the purchase since it was kind of expensive too." It looked pretty awkward for him to talk about it. And now Joker regretted drawing attention to his ineptitude.

"...You know, I don't think anyone has ever used them, buuuut we do have a data pad that might have a set of instructions to help with you that." The guy in front of him seemed to perk up with the information so Joker went on. "But if you don't know how to use a data pad, I can't really help you there."

"You know, I think I'll take a look at that," he replied cheerfully, scratching his neck.

Then they both stared at each other for a while.

_Oh._

"They should be in Chakwas' office," Joker added. "In her desk if I remember what the ship tour guide said correctly."

At the mention of Chakwas, he froze like a deer in headlights.

"...you know what. I just realized I have something I forgot to do." He quickly turned around to leave, but stopped mid-way, and looked back over his shoulder one last time to the helmsman. "Thanks for the advice Joker, I'll be sure to ask the doctor for where that pad might be."

"Yeah, same. Nice talking with ya," Joker muttered as the stranger started to rush back the way he came.

"You Too!" he replied back, jogging down the bridge.

Joker swiveled his chair back to face the ship's bow.

_Well alright then...wonder what I can find on the radio-_

* * *

"What do you think you're doing here?!"

"Uh, I just wanted to see how she was doing."

There was a pause.

"Am I not allowed in here?"

"Ugh-"

Shepard groaned as she found her eyes assaulted by the bright fluorescent lights above her.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas? I think she's waking up," the female voice rung up again.

_Is that...the marine we ran into on Prime. Williams. _

Shepard gritted her teeth as she pulled herself upright, forcing herself to open her eyes.

_...what's she doing here?_

The first thing she found herself staring at was a sterile white wall. And from the sight, she immediately pegged that she was in the Medbay. Her memory began to swim as she tried to recall the events that had happened before sleep had took her. She brought a hand to her head as she did, just beginning to turn herself around before Chakwas stepped into view before her.

"You had us worried there Shepard. How are you feeling?"

The doctor looked at her concerned, slightly frowning, holding a small data pad in her left hand, probably containing information on her vitals.

"Like shit," she muttered. "How long was I out?"

"About thirteen hours, something happened down there with the beacon I think."

_Thirteen Hours?! What the Hell?!_

Williams piped up behind her. "It's my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."

"Where's the beacon now?" Shepard asked, closing her eyes, still trying to grasp what had happened.

"Probably back where we left it. We were a little more concerned with getting you back to the ship safe and sound than with securing that pile of junk."

Shepard froze as he spoke. She then slowly turned around to face the voice that had just addressed her. The man that accompanied them to the beacon stood to the left of the marine from Eden Prime. And the ferocity of her stare made him take a couple steps back.

"Uh-"

He barely had time to open his mouth before she sprang off the bed and sent the man flying to the wall with her biotics, pinning him there. He cried in pain as his back slammed against it.

"Ah! What the FUCK," he shouted, struggling against the mass effect field holding him place.

"Commander-" Chakwas gasped before Shepard cut her off.

"What the hell is he doing on this ship," she growled at them. "This-"

She suddenly doubled over as she felt a sharp pain in her chest, and she gripped at her sides tightly. The bright blue aura shimmering around the man faded away, causing him to fall to the ground shortly after.

Williams quickly rushed to her side to support her while Chakwas just stood in place, still appalled by Shepard's actions.

"Commander, you shouldn't have gotten up. I found that some of your ribs were fractured when they brought you aboard. While they should heal relatively quickly with the treatment I gave you, you still shouldn't exert yourself." She then directed an arm at the individual heaving on the ground. "And he's one of the reasons that you all made it back here in one piece."

"Bullshit," Shepard muttered, pushing Ashley off her. "Has he been able to just waltz around the ship this entire time?!"

"Shepard, I trust him as far about as I can throw him but-"

She held a hand to the soldier's face.

The man lying on the ground looked up at her bewildered. "What the hell did I do to deserve-" He suddenly shut his mouth, grinding his teeth, shutting his eyes as he curled up in pain. Chakwas made a move to approach him but Shepard stopped her again.

"You lied to us when we were back at that spaceport." He turned his head as quickly as he could back to her, looking as if he had no idea what she was talking about. She found herself clenching her fist as another sharp sensation of pain snaked its way to her brain. "When we first saw you...you claimed that you had seen the Turian that killed Nihlus through the crates you were hiding behind." His eyes begun to widen as he realized he had been caught. "But that dock worker claimed you had them shut. You then backtracked and said you had just seen it before you had hidden."

Ashley's eyes widened with the realization too.

"You're right...why the hell did you lie to us?" she demanded turning to him.

His eyes flitted between them, trying to scrounge up an excuse. Shepard went on.

"I had wondered that myself. I hadn't understood why he had gotten us those supplies from the smuggler either. Then he tried to invite himself along. That's when I realized the most likely answer...he killed Nihlus himself." The horrified expression that crept across his face brought her pleasure. The look of someone who had been caught. Shepard tensed herself, ready for him to make a move to escape. "The dockworker made up the story about the other turian because the actual murderer had been right there. Then he tried pinning it on what's his name and got us those mods so we'd think he was on our side."

"What?! NO-"

He was cut off before Shepard yelled at him to shut his mouth and continued. "I only let you come with us to see what you would try. While you didn't attempt anything on that tram, when we were fighting through the space port, you only killed one Geth. One."

"Okay, that was because I've never been in a gunf-," he begun to stammer before Shepard hit him with another biotic field, albeit one much weaker than the first, but strong enough to still cause his head to snap back into the wall behind him. She then doubled over in pain immediately after.

"Commander! Stop this at once! You hurting yourself as much as you're hurting him!"

Chakwas took out a stim and made a move to inoculate her arm. As it broke her skin, Shepard found her pain immediately dulled. The Doctor moved to do the same for Shield but Shepard outstretched her arm again, preventing her from doing so.

"The only way you would have known about that last detonator is if you had known it would be there in the first place!" she shouted at him.

He struggled to come up with a response.

"If I had set them up, why would have I warned you about them then?!" he cried.

"Because the Geth had already set them off without you!"

"What's going on in here!"

Anderson moved his stare from Shepard standing beside her bed, to Shield who was lying sprawled on the ground. She noticed Kaidan standing behind him, apparently accompanying him to see what all the commotion had been about too.

She wrenched her head from Anderson back to the pathetic sight before her. "This man lied to us when we first met him!"

"Just because I misspoke, you think that immediately means I worked with that lunatic!?" He then turned to Anderson, his eyes seemed to be pleading for help. "He butchered thousands down there!"

"What lunatic? As far as I know, you're the only one that knows why they attacked! Hell, you could have even led them there!"

His look of bewilderment only added to his guiltiness. "Are you really saying that I led the Geth there? That I killed Nihlus!?"

Shepard knew she was taking a large leap to conclude that he had been the one to kill the Spectre, as it didn't even seem like he knew how to hold a gun. If that other colonist hadn't agreed with him, she would've thought he had made the Turian up too.

_But the Turian was made up. The colonist only said that because he was being held at gunpoint._

And even if he wasn't guilty of killing Nihlus, the man had still made up everything he had said. He avoided her gaze the entire conversation, there was a delay whenever he opened his mouth, and he blatantly had tried to change the subject when the fallacy in his story was pointed out.

"Even if you didn't kill Nihlus, you were hiding something from us back then, and you're still hiding it from us now!"

She kept her gaze fixated him.

In response, he closed his eyes and then slowly reopened them, meeting her gaze head on for the first time since she had woken. "If you really did think I was responsible for what happened there-" She noticed Anderson was reeling at all the accusations. "-why did you try to push me out of the beacon too?"

She now remembered the events before her dream in vivid detail. She had tried to push Shield back toward the ground before the screams of the dead had overwhelmed her.

"I..." She backtracked and raised her voice again. "The fact that the beacon was destroyed though only incriminates you further!"

"Shepard! There's no way he could have been accountable for that. He was caught in it too when it exploded!" She turned in shock to Alenko who was staring back at her defiantly. "He even helped us carry you back to the Normandy, through an entire war zone, when he could have left us there just as easily."

"...he's right Commander," Williams almost whispered. "Without him, we would have been sitting ducks for the Geth trying to get you back aboard."

Their defense of him infuriated her.

_He just did it to get onto their ship. He was hiding something, she just knew-_

"You want the truth?"

They had all turned their eyes back towards the man lying on the ship's floor. He had planted both his hands firmly on the ground and was attempting to push himself up. She had almost sent another mass effect field his way before another white flash of pain crossed her eyes. She reopened them to find him slumped on the wall, trying to use it for support.

"...you can't handle the truth!"

"What?" Ashley mouthed confused.

"But you're right...I was lying to you Shepard." The statement actually elicited a gasp from the Doctor. "I was lying to all of you about who I was. I'm not a detective. And I did make up that story about seeing Saren before I hid."

Anderson gave him a cold stare. "Why? For what possible reason could you have had to blame what happened at Eden Prime on him?"

Shield met his gaze. "Don't get me wrong, the Spectre Saren Arterius was definitely responsible for that attack. And if that colonist was telling the truth, he killed Nihlus too. We knew Saren had been planning to attack a colony in the Verge for a long time. We just didn't know which..."

"We?" Ashley asked incredulously.

"Yes...we." he replied.

Shepard kept her eyes focused on the man before her.

_What was his game._

"We were sent to several different colonies throughout the cluster to watch for any sign of his activity. I had only actually arrived a couple days prior before Saren and his synthetics attacked...I saw his Geth lay waste to entire platoons. When they started slaughtering everyone, I thought I was at the end of the line. To be honest, I hid myself behind those crates just hoping that I'd at least be given a quick death when they eventually found me."

The corner of his lips curled when he looked at her next. "But fate would have it differently, as in rode the famed Commander Shepard not moments later. They tried to stop you and you just gunned them down like that. Pop-pop-pop." He mimicked a gun with his hand. "You made it look so easy."

Shepard noticed that everyone in the room was now hanging on his every word. "I saw that the only way I was getting out of that nightmare was by tagging along with you and your squad. So I came up with that bullshit story and followed you guys through that army of Geth."

He paused before looking at Anderson. "We had no idea why Saren would even want to attack a human colony. Not until I saw the beacon."

Shield turned his gaze back toward her. "He saw whatever was in that beacon Shepard. And I know you saw it too."

The images and sounds from the dream immediately started drifting in and out of her mind.

_Had...had he seen the nightmare too-_

The Gunnery chief asked the same question.

"Again, who is _we_?"

He hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath, noticeably wincing from whatever injury Shepard had caused. Then his face hardened.

"I'm an agent of the Shadow Broker."

"The Shadow Broker?" Ashley asked obviously lost. Shepard couldn't say she had heard the term before either.

"He's an information broker. One of the best in the galaxy." Anderson answered, looking at the man with concern.

"THE best," Shield corrected him.

Alenko spoke up next. "They say that with all the information he has, the Broker could start a war between every civilization of the galaxy in less than an hour."

"So you're telling me that you guys knew there was going to be an attack and didn't warn us!?" Williams snapped, ignoring the essential point Alenko had been trying to make.

"We don't give out information for free and the Alliance never asked. Besides...we had no idea where he was going to attack, if it all," the agent shot back.

Anderson gave him a grave look. "Who gave the Shadow Broker this information on Saren?"

"I can't just-" he glanced for a second at her before turning back to Anderson. "All I know is that someone tipped the Shadow Broker off about him. He sent us to check it out." He then grimaced and slid back to the floor, grabbing his chest.

"Here let me get you something to help," Chakwas said as she crossed the room to her desk. The med bay went silent.

He had obviously practiced the alibi, not giving up even one hint that he might've been lying. But Shepard still didn't trust him.

"So what do we do about you," Shepard said, crossing her arms.

His eyes seemed empty now as she stared into them, devoid of any emotion.

"I say we throw him in the brig," Williams chimed in.

"We don't have one," Anderson replied. "And as the Captain of this ship, that's for me to decide. Williams, Alenko, you're dismissed."

"Yes sir!" they both prompted replied. The Chief didn't fail to give an accusatory glare at the slumped Shield before walking out. The Lieutenant followed her out soon after.

"Look," Shield spoke again, drawing back her and Anderson's attention. "I'm sorry that I lied to you about who I was. I didn't want to...expose my cover if I didn't have to. But after seeing what that bastard did to Prime...I was serious about offering my help Captain."

The Captain seemed to mull something over in his head. Shepard decided to give her two cents.

"I honestly don't see why we would need your help at all. We already have the testimony of that colonist who claimed Saren was present at Eden Prime. The only other way you could help is if we turned you over to the Alliance to see if you have anything else you'd like to share with them."

His face didn't betray a hint of emotion at the suggestion. She couldn't place when it happened, but his demeanor had changed at some point during the confrontation. Chakwas, after spending some time at one of the med bay's consoles, went to Shield and knelt beside him, inoculating him with the same stuff she had given Shepard.

"That should help with the pain. I'd like to take a look at you once the Captain and Commander are done here."

"Thanks Doc," he replied.

He then turned toward the Captain who had finally taken his eyes off the ground and started to speak. "Earlier, you mentioned that Saren had seen something in the beacon. I'm guessing you lied to me about not experiencing anything out of the ordinary when you were in contact with it."

"I honestly don't what I saw," he said, looking at the ground. "It was some kind of vision. Trying to describe it would have made me sound insane."

"Commander, when you were under, I did detect some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."

Anderson turned to her. "Shepard?"

She hesitated as the details of the nightmare crept back into her mind. "I'm not sure what I saw either. Death. Destruction. Nothing's really clear. There were synthetics, Geth maybe, slaughtering people. Butchering them."

Shield winced, losing his facade as she described it.

"We need to report this to the Council."

"What, and tell them we had a bad dream?" Shield replied to Anderson sarcastically.

Although Shepard was infuriated at how he had addressed the Captain, she agreed. "They'll think we're crazy."

Anderson wasn't convinced. "Doctor Chakwas, could you let us talk in private for a moment?"

"Of course Captain," she replied, leaving the room.

Anderson waited until the door slid shut before speaking. "I won't lie to you Shepard. Things look bad. Nihlus is dead. The beacon was destroyed and the Geth are invading. The council's going to want answers. If both of you had these visions, they can't ignore that!"

She frowned at the mention of those freaks on the Citadel.

"The Council can kiss my ass. I won't let them blame me for losing the beacon. I did nothing wrong. The Alliance can solve this problem without their help."

"I stand behind you Shepard. You're a damned hero in my book," he reassured her. "But we can't do this alone. It's Saren. That other turian. He's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. If he's working with the Geth, it means he's gone rogue."

Shield opened his mouth. "As a Spectre, he has access to files on everyone and everything. He has a vast amount of resources at his disposal and the ability to do whatever he pleases. Unless we confront the council about him, just relying on the Alliance won't change that."

Anderson nodded in agreement with him. "We don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it. But I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy." Anderson's speech grew in fervor as he started to pace back and forth. "This attack was an act of war! He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy! I'm sure of it!"

Shepard was taken aback at how passionately Anderson detested the Turian. "...do you two have history together?"

Anderson turned to face her. "Yes, and it didn't go well last time I came face to face with him. If he's gotten something from the beacon or found whatever he's looking for..."

Shepard would take her own life before she let a Turian attack human colonies with impunity. "He won't. Not if I can help it. I'll find some way to take him down!"

She grew enraged when she noticed that Shield almost looked bored with their discourse. Then Anderson snapped her attention back to him. "That's why we need the Council on our side. As a Spectre, he can go anywhere, do almost anything. By proving he's gone rogue, we can revoke all of those advantages."

The realization hit her. "So we expose Saren and the Council will revoke his Spectre status."

"Exactly Shepard. I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel."

"So what about him?" She motioned toward Shield who now seemed close to dozing off.

Anderson hesitated, giving the man a long hard look. He seemed to be extremely conflicted about something. "...he can stay aboard the Normandy until we reach the Citadel. Then once we get there, we'll escort him to the Council Chamber where he can give a testimony and after that...we can go our separate ways."

Shepard looked at him baffled. Shield eyes popped open at Anderson's statement, sharing her response.

"You're joking."

Anderson gave her a hard stare. "He hasn't done anything to harm the crew and hasn't broken any laws last time I checked. He also gave us vital intel on who was responsible for the attack-"

"What?! Only after he was forced too! We don't know have any idea of what he's done since he's come aboard!"

"She's right," he said. "I had free reign around your ship for more than thirteen hours." She stared at Shield in disbelief as he agreed with her. "I can't say I haven't noticed a couple things exploring the ship. Are you really sure you're okay with just letting me walk?" he asked Anderson.

His question baffled her.

_What the hell is his angle?!_

Thinking about it only got her angrier.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm assigning a marine to keep an eye on you until we dock...but I believe that your words are sincere."

She couldn't believe her ears.

"We should be getting near the Widow relay. In maybe another hour. Shepard, head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us into dock once we're close. I still expect Chakwas wants to look at you." He turned to Shield. "And you too. I'll have Chakwas come back in. And Private Emerson should be here shortly to be your escort."

"Actually," Shield replied, "the Commander seems to really mistrust me. Would she be willing to watch me instead? She can see for herself if I'm up to no good and I can show her that I'm only here to help. I'll probably be in the med bay with her 'til we get there anyway."

He thought it over for a moment. Then he looked at her. "That seems fine to me. Shepard?"

She leered at him. "I'll watch him Captain."

"Good. I'll see you both when we're ashore." He saluted. She returned it as he exited the door. And as he did, Chakwas walked back in, immediately ordering them both into bed, getting to work on Shield's apparent injuries first.

"Commander," he groaned as Chakwas tended to him.

"Stay quiet and rest, I'm surprised you were able to be walking around like you have been," Chakwas babied him.

"Sorry Doc, this will only take a sec." Begrudgingly, Shepard decided to turn her head toward him. "We got off on the wrong foot...and I'm sorry for deceiving you." His face seemed genuinely apologetic. But she didn't care. She watched him like a hawk, daring him to make a move. "But I assure you, whatever my allegiance, I'm dedicated to taking that bastard down for what he's done. He deserves to pay."

"We'll see," Shepard grumbled back to him.

"I hope I can prove to you at some point that I'm being honest Commander."

* * *

Chakwas had let them both out of bed when they heard Joker announcing they had just entered the Exodus cluster's relay. And after doing so, the Doctor didn't fail to let her amazement at the relative speeds their bodies were scheduled to recover known. A couple more days and she said they would be walking around just fine.

As they exited the room, the first people they saw were Alenko and Williams conversing with each other next to the cafeteria. And they saw her just as quickly as she had seen them. She was practically roped in as soon as she had gotten out of the room.

"Hey Commander," they both chimed in unison.

"Good to see you up," Alenko added.

"After what happened to Jenkins, the crew could use some good news. They'll be glad to hear you're okay," Williams muttered.

_What the hell was that tone she used._

"You have a problem with me, Chief?" Shepard immediately bit back.

The marine furrowed her eyebrows. "You questioned my competence throughout the entire mission back on Prime!"

Alenko and Shield shifted awkwardly at the outburst.

"We'd just lost a man. I didn't know you or your capabilities. It was a bad time to integrate you into the team."

"That's fair," she replied coldly. "I just get a little defensive when someone thinks I can't hold my own."

"Best way to stop that is to show me you're competent. But I don't remember inviting you to come back onto the ship with us."

"You didn't. Captain Anderson did."

Shield nudged Alenko out of the corner of her eye. Kaidan looked at him oddly before realizing what the prompt meant. "Speaking of Jenkins Commander...I was sad to see him go like that..."

Shepard turned her attention toward him. "He was a soldier. He knew the risks and so do you. You need to get used to people dying under your command Alenko."

He looked at her appalled. "I know that! It's just...it's been a hell of a shakedown cruise. Our first mission ends with one Spectre killing another. The Citadel Council's not gonna be happy about that. Probably use it to lever more concessions out of the Alliance."

_The Council?!_

"Fuck the Council. There's something big coming. If they're too blind to see it then it's on them. We work for the Alliance, you read me, Lieutenant?"

"Five by five, ma'am." Alenko and Williams gave each other a look. "So, what did the Captain say we should do about him?" He motioned to the man beside him.

"I have a name you know."

"Shut it," she growled before returning attention to Alenko. "I'm keeping an eye on him until we dock. He'll be with us until Saren is stripped of his Spectre status.

"Unless you guys decide you want to bring me along!" he smiled.

They all stared at him before turning away.

"Is there anything else before we head ashore?" the Lieutenant asked.

"For you? No. I just need to go speak with Joker."

"Oh, we'll go with you! We should just be exiting the Widow Relay now."

_Great._

She made sure Shield stayed a couple steps in front of her as they walked up the stairs to the Command Center. The Chief and Alenko brought up their rear.

And as they reached the bridge, Joker seemed to perk up as he heard them approaching.

"So I'm guessing you found that data pad Shield?"

Shield cursed under his breath "...no, I actually got a little...distracted."

She made a mental note to interrogate Joker about that later before she spoke. "Joker, what's our approach vector?"

Joker jumped at hearing her voice, turning over his shoulder to look at her. "Oh Commander, good timing! I was just about to bring us into the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work."

He smirked at his own joke. Ignoring it, she found that outside the Normandy's window was a bright purple tint coming from the dense gases and particulates that surrounded them. She couldn't see a thing past the smog and half-suspected Joker to crash into oncoming traffic as he began bringing them down. But her concerns were allayed as the enormous arms of the Citadel suddenly came into view. In response, Williams and Shield ran to the window like excited children. Alenko on the other hand positioned himself behind Joker's other shoulder.

"WOW, look at the size of that ship!"

The marine could barely hide her excitement.

"The Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel Fleet," Alenko identified for them.

"Well size isn't everything," Joker muttered.

"Why so touchy Joker?"

"I'm just saying you need fire power too."

"It looks like it's got more than enough of that. I mean do you see that monster! Its main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance Fleet!"

"Good thing it's on our side then," Alenko added.

Shield stayed silent, opting to just stare out the window instead. His face was practically smushed against it.

"Citadel Control, this is S-S-V Normandy, requesting permission to land."

"Stand by for clearance, Normandy...Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator."

It was the first time Shepard had actually seen the Citadel in person. She wasn't one for sight-seeing but she admitted to herself that the structure _was_ fairly impressive.

"Normandy, this is Alliance tower. Please proceed to dock four-two-two."

"Roger that, Alliance Tower. Normandy out."

Joker then tapped a couple buttons on his haptic interface as the Normandy began descending toward the Citadel.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Definitely hadn't thought this chapter would be as long as it is when I first began writing it. I also didn't think I would have as much trouble too. Most of it was due to addressing how I would write these two different POV's but also from the fact that I** was thinking short vignettes rather than lines and lines of dialogue. **  
**

**I also wanted to do a solid depiction of Shepard's demeanor in this chapter, but since it was a critical building block for the plot of the game and her personal vendetta, I couldn't really skip through parts of dialogue like I've had in the story previously. Shepard isn't one to ignore her superiors or surroundings after all. In fact, she's kind of a wet blanket. Rearranging some of the scene to make sense was also pretty tough. Making it so the conversation led back to the game's script in a logical manner was particularly challenging as well. But of course, in the end, it was no match for an intellect such as mine.**

**But after it was all said and done, I still didn't get to the Citadel and the Council like I had wanted too... :(**

**In any case, glad to get this one out of the way as we look forward to actually kicking off our journey! **

**In the Next Chapter: Turian Councillor Sparatus Hardlines, Asari Councillor Tevos makes no promises, and Salarian Councillor Valern croaks...Literally! Getting the Council to Care!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	6. The Turian's Trial

Once we were docked, Anderson had insisted that Williams stop at the Alliance embassy first for a psychological evaluation. As if it had needed to be said, he had wanted to make sure that the events she endured on Eden Prime had not affected her emotional well-being. And after a lot of heated discussion, she eventually had given in and headed there with Shepard who still had yet to file her own report on the mission too.

_That psychotic biotic..._

Her accusations on the Normandy had literally almost ended me up in some Alliance prison never to see the light of day again. In fact, had she convinced everyone that I'd been the one to kill Nihlus, they would never even have known about fucking Saren. Powell, dah bastahd, didn't even mention his name to my recollection, and the galaxy would've just fallen like that to the Reapers within the year.

I tried my hardest not to have a breakdown at the thought.

I was just a single variable. One guy who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The really wrong time. And I had already almost single-handedly caused the end of galactic civilization because I was such a bad liar.

_I mean holy shit. The butterfly effect is fucking real as shit._

I remembered like 50% of the conversation that happened in the med bay. There had definitely not been a scene in the game where half the Normandy crew was in it, and there definitely wasn't a scene where they were all standing by watching a witch trial take place. The very thought rattled me to my core. I had decided to take the gambit and played my hand. With the Shadow Broker in this universe being the literal illumanati, would he already know about my lie to them? Could I expect a reprisal for my bluff within the week? Did the lie even cover my ass?

Just thinking about the Yahg caused me to shudder.

_Not to mention that knowing what happens in this universe doesn't even matter if just being here has already screwed up the timeline so much..._

I just had to thank whatever force that sent me here for at least giving me the skill tree. I have to admit, I accidentally put all my points into the talent and committed before I had realized what I done-

_Definitely not going to make a mistake like that again...if I can help it..._

-but it looked like it had worked out. I know for a fact I couldn't hold a poker face even if my life depended on it, but I had done that, on top of smoothly BS'ing my way into everyone's hearts.

_Obviously due in no short part to dumping all my points in 'persuasion' ..._

In Mass Effect 1, I had always been guilty of putting all my available points into the earliest available paragon or renegade slots, maxing them as soon as I could. Although it was an accident at the time...it looked like old habits die hard.

I snapped to attention as Anderson finished talking to the Alliance representative and motioned for me and Kaidan to follow him into the Presidium.

And. It. Was. Breathtaking.

The simulated clouds and sky floating above seemed extremely real, and in fact, if I hadn't known better, I would've thought that we were just outside in between two really really really tall, really really really wide 22nd century buildings. Both of which just so happened to span the length of a small city. Or nation.

_Haha, yeah, I would never guess that I was currently in a giant ring floating in the middle of space...that's also supposed to double as the catalyst for the destruction of all organic life in the Galaxy-_

I shivered at just the thought.

_The catalyst. Ew._

I put that tidbit at the back of my head as I decided to focus on the present. The fake rays of sun still felt warm on my skin, and the sound of the Presidium's fountains I found were extremely calming. The only break in this serene atmosphere were the conversations of the Elcor, Hanar, Asari, and Turians we passed that made the entire area sound like an international food court. In all honesty, the entire thing was surreal.

But I tried my hardest to not let the awesomeness of what I saw affect me. I was an agent of the Shadow Broker. If I had never seen the Citadel in person before, or another alien being for that fact, I would obviously be a phony. But alas, it was futile, as my mouth still hung agape regardless as my eyes took in the sights around us. As Kaidan and Anderson talked about the mission, the Council, and various other things I had no interest in, I just soaked in the experience.

_Definitely better than Eden Prime._

Most of the aliens had been too far away for me to really marvel at, but we did happen to pass really close to a really short Volus-

_Although I guess all Volus are really short..._

-in a completely brown exosuit that was talking into his headpiece. I could hear their iconic *kssshhh* in between the foreign sounds coming out of his mouth.

Although something seemed a little off.

But Kaidan interrupted any inkling of suspicion as he pointed out where Shepard and Williams were waiting for us. We all soon reconvened in the front of the embassy suites, with everyone exchanging some words, Shepard giving me a glare that I imagined would give a Krogan pause, and Anderson indicating that the Ambassador was still waiting for us. Marching past the lobby together, the receptionist there gave us a polite nod and sang us some kind of weird melody as we passed.

_...Hm...I GUESS that sounded nice..._

I just couldn't put a finger on it but now I knew something was _definitely_ off. I wondered if part of it was just being tired from being robbed of sleep from the previous night. I actually had no idea if my body got its rest or not after the skill tree had popped up.

_I mean that thing could've been a sleep deprived hallucination..._

I sighed.

_Just like the rest of this._

I was still contemplating the idea when we entered Udina's room, where the man was currently shouting at some holograms.

"This is an OUTRAGE! The Council would step in if the Geth attacked a TURIAN colony!"

_Wow he's animated._

I frowned as I heard croaking coming from what I deemed to be the Salarian councilman's hologram. Now I noticed what was wrong.

_I don't have a translator._

It was hard for me to keep track of the discussion as I could only hear a quarter of it. Not that I would have really listened anyways I realized. I imagined I would soon grow tired of hearing the quartet and their constant misgivings about Shepard's actions. If I ended up sticking around with Shepard that is.

_Do I realllllly still want to be on the Normandy after what just happened...?_

Shepard was abrasive, intimidating, and hostile. Although mostly just towards me.

_That's not true. She apparently treated Williams pretty badly too before they ran into me._

But that only strengthened my resolve.

_I've come this far. This psychopath is obviously going to cut a bloody swath through whomever she meets._

The way she had just attacked me without provocation on the Normandy proved it. And I rubbed my back while doing so. The bruises from when she had tossed me around were still fresh. And then my eyes popped open as a thought came across my mind.

_SHIT, she would totally kill Wrex on Virmire...Or only if I wasn't there to stop her._

The idea of the galaxy having one less Urdnot dropped my spirits. I also realized that without me, one of the two people in this room was destined to die there too. Definitely not going to let that happen.

_Although Williams was kind of unpleasant toward me. Not as much as Shepard was of course but still...NO._

I resigned myself to my fate. I WAS going to be on the Normandy after this trial. And I WAS going to give them my help whether Shepard wanted it or not. What else would I even do anyways?

_Chill at Chora's den. Afterlife. Bide my time until whatever hallucinogens I took wore off__..._

_Which might take awhile at the current rate this dream has lasted._

"-half your crew with you."

I turned my attention back to reality. The reality I was in anyways.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you had any questions."

Alenko and Williams shot each other a glance while they hung their arms over the office's balcony.

"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?"

God, I always had kind of glazed over him when he was on the screen but the dude's voice in real life-

_No. Not real life. Get a hold of yourself._

-was a lot more aggravating then I remembered.

Anderson and Udina continued their dialogue as I decided to join the two token human soldiers on the ledge overseeing the Presidium. I heard Shepard mention the word "ass" behind me. Staring at the view below, my curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to hock a loogie over the edge to see how long it took for it to fall. Alenko caught me in the act. And in turn, he just looked at me funny. I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly at him and decided to return my gaze back to the Presidium's lake as I thought about my next move.

_Aside from joining the crew, I still need to figure out how to use my omni-tool. I mean, I could find that data pad in Chakwas' desk if I got back on the Normandy...when I would get back on the Normandy. Come on. And on top of that though, OH MY GOD. Now I need a translator. I won't be able to converse with any of the kooky aliens I came across without it. Which is like 70% of the people here._

"-meet us at the Citadel Tower. Top level. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in."

"Wait," I spoke next, already regretting opening my mouth.

"...Is this our witness for the trial?" Udina asked turning to Anderson.

"Yup," I replied for him. Shepard and her band of misfits eyed me in response, but I ignored their stares. "How will I know when it's my turn to give my testimony?"

Udina looked at me like I was stupid. "You'll be directly asked for your account by the councilors sometime during the trial."

I brought up my concerns. "Yeaaah, I won't know when I'm asked because I think my translator actually broke. All I heard were croaks and what sounded like a dog yodeling when you were talking to them just now."

"Great," Udina said pinching his nose.

"What do you use for a translator?"

Anderson's question took me off guard.

_Oh shit. Was it earpieces? Some other unseen technology on one's person? Wait. Wasn't there something in the codex about skin implants? ...I don't think I have those...or I hope not at least. And if I don't, I'm pret-ty sure I don't want one so...that really only leaves-_

"My omni-tool," I started. "I've actually been messing around with it since we left Eden Prime...but I think a Geth overload caused it to go screwy."

_Another lie. I'll have to make sure not to mention that around Joker since I told him a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY oh jesus-_

"Here, let me take a look at it," said Kaidan, holding out his hand.

"...It looks like you have the situation under control. Don't be late. Anderson!"

The Ambassador and Anderson walked out of the room leaving us by ourselves.

"And that's why I hate politicians."

After acknowledging her comment, it took Kaidan a couple seconds to pull my tool up, and then by clicking just a few buttons and waving his omni-tool over mine, BOOM, he had fixed it. Just like that. Something chirped in my ear several times as it seemed to correct itself.

"That should do it. It looks like a part of your fabricator and the auditory synchronization application were missing, so I just fabricated them with my own omni-tool. It should work just fine now."

"Uh...thanks man," I sighed, shutting off my omni-tool. "If you hadn't noticed, tech isn't exactly my strong suit."

"So, what now Commander?"

Shepard looked at Alenko. "I'd rather just head to the Citadel Tower and get this over with."

We left the room, with me leading the way of course. It was more Shepard's decision than mine, still believing I might make a run for it or foolishly try to stab them in the back. Thankfully, Kaidan decided to break the ice, interrupting our silent descent.

"So Williams, Commander, how were your debriefings?"

"Boring," Shepard muttered.

Kaidan looked at Williams in turn. "The debrief wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. To be honest, the shrink actually kind of helped. Asked me a couple questions, how I was feeling and all that garbage, and then let me on my way," she replied. Alarms automatically went off in my head.

_Ashley? Debrief about Prime? Shrink? Why does this feel like a red flag? I guess the whole thing does sound familiar...like I've seen it somewhere before..._

GASP.

I whipped around to face her, "Williams! What was the name of your shrink?!"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Uh, why do you care? And why does it matter?"

Everyone had stopped their descent down the stairwell.

I asked her again, "Was her name Captain Tatum?"

The Chief just continued to stare at me. "How do you know the shrink was a she?"

Shepard turned to stare at Alenko. "He was in our sight the entire time. He never left our side," he assured her.

I ignored them and repeated my question to Williams. "Was her name Captain Tatum?"

Ashley was about to say something along the lines of "Kiss my ass" before Shepard interrupted us.

"Answer his question," Shepard said.

_What the-how wa...did she just she help me?_

Williams had a look of bewilderment I believe was for the same reason. Then she reluctantly said "No...I think her name was Captain Channing."

_Ohhhhh. It was Channing...not Tatum. _

I thankfully didn't smile with my mix-up.

"Dammit," I just managed to mouth before turning around.

I could feel Shepard's eyes burning into the back of my skull. "Spit it out. Why were you curious about who debriefed her?"

_It really hadn't mattered but...think fast, think fast, think-Bingo._

"Did your shrink have reddish-orange hair, dark skin?"

"...Yeah...how'd you-"

"Then it's the same person. Captain Channing and Tatum are just some of her covers."

_And so were Rasa, Hope Lilium, and Maya Brooks. Shepard's Judas in the Citadel DLC._

"You're telling me someone impersonated her shrink," Shepard next asked incredulously.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you. Williams, what exactly did you tell her?"

She glanced at Shepard and Kaidan before answering. "...I just told her about what happened to me on Prime. The Geth. Being one of the only ones to make it out alive...I..." Her eyes begin to widen with the implication of what I was saying. "...I might have mentioned the beacon..."

Shepard's face contorted in anger. "You What?"

Williams went on the defensive. "I wasn't sure if it was classified information or not. It was destroyed and I thought she was with the Alliance!"

"It doesn't matter," I interjected, hoping to nip this fight in the bud. "She's long gone by now and like you said, the beacon's destroyed. It doesn't help them to know about it."

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Them? Is this going to be another 'Shadow Broker'?"

"Not even close."

_Actually though..._

I decided to correct myself. "Scratch that. The man she works for is pretty much par for the course on knowing what's what."

"And the man she works for is...?"

I crossed my arms and just stared back at Shepard.

_Alright so what do I want to tell you? How much do I need to? Oh shit. What if it affected the events of ME2?...Ah Fuck It._

"He's only known as 'The Illusive Man' as he's so...elusive. I can tell you that much fewer people know about him than the Shadow Broker. He's equally as mysterious though. No one knows who he is or where he came from. We only know that he heads a group known as Cerberus. And I couldn't really tell you much more than that," I lied.

"So...what? Should we go looking for her?" Kaidan asked.

"Like he said, she's already long gone. There's not much else we can do." Shepard turned back around, facing down the stairs. "But how did you know that that woman would be here? Interview Williams in person?"

"Oh, uh...I got a tip. And it kind of slipped my mind until just now," I replied sheepishly, rubbing my neck.

"Great. Helpful. And after that waste of time, we're probably late now. Come on."

While walking through the lobby, the receptionist happily told us on the way out to "Have a nice day!"

Translator officially worked.

But we were apparently imitating rude people as we ignored her and continued to march out of the embassy. And we kept walking until Shepard spotted the nearest 'rapid transit station'. As Shepard called the sky car, AVINA materialized out of some sort of holo-emitter next to her feet.

"Hello I-"

"I'm not interested."

"Our records indicate this is your first time on the Citadel. A brief orientation session is customary. Please allow me to do my job."

_This is Shepard's FIRST time here?_

"I'll pass."

The poor VI looked dejected at Shepard's answer, deciding to at least recite the rest of her spiel before powering down. I had never known that this was Shepard's first visit to the Citadel. If she was impressed or enamored by the views at all, she definitely didn't show it.

Alenko decided to ask again. "So Commander, are you sure you want to head straight to the tower?"

"Yeah. It's not like there's anything else to do around here."

_What. This is the fucking CITADEL. What do you mean there's 'nothing to do'?!_

I restrained myself from acting out.

_God, Shepard, you're the worst._

We all hopped into the skycar as it finally arrived, with Shepard claiming the coveted passenger seat for herself. That left the rest of us to squeeze into the back,where I was decidedly wedged in the middle.

_Huh. They don't trust me enough to give me a window seat yet. Hopefully that changes with time._

I hate the middle seat.

It took about seven minutes, give or take, for our ride to reach the top of the tower from where we had originally left. Upon arriving at our destination, the car landed on a small pad that had a door leading to the elevators of the Citadel Tower. Shepard made sure to shove me forward as I got out of the car and begin to walk.

"I'm watching you," she didn't fail to whisper too. "Just try something. Make my day."

_What the...that was the cheesiest thing I must have ever heard in my entire life. __Shepard...you're definitely the worst. I just got ear cancer from that my god._

Deciding to ignore her, we took the elevator several floors up before we reached the highest it would take us. Then we took the last flights of stairs that led the rest of the way to the Council Chambers. We eventually reached the tippy top after a LOT of climbing, and I mean a lot, as I was almost drowsed in sweat, as we finally entered the room where decisions concerning the galaxy were made.

What immediately brightened my mood was the sight ahead of us, where a clearing containing two Turians in a heated discussion were.

One had a light blue tattoo relatively similar to Nihlus' covering his face. He was wearing the weird Turian tunic that's neckline was like...ten times the diameter of their actual neck. It actually reminded me of the fashion those citizens from the Capitol of the Hunger Games wore. Absurdity aside, it did have quite the interesting pattern on it at least. Across from Executor Pallin though stood a clearly younger Turian, who opposed to Pallin's face paint, had just a single blue horizontal line tattooed under his eyes. He was wearing C-Sec's notorious blue and black color scheme, and although the armor's neck line was similar to the executor's, it seemed much less ridiculous. And I could only think one thing when I saw him.

_Ooooooh shit!_

As we came closer, I could hear Vakarian adamantly protesting the dismissal of his case.

"Stall them!"

"Stall the Council?" Pallin scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus."

And as the Executor then exited stage left, Garrus turned to face our motley group, signature visor coming into plain view. And it actually looked kind of cheap. Like someone took a cleaver to the middle of someone's sun glasses and painted the lens blue.

_...I should totally get one._

A helmet was still high on my list of things to grab. _Apparently_, that's where marines got their HUD as well as the protection for their noggins. Or at least that's what the site I kept accessing on the extranet said, back when I was still trying to pull up the time on the Normandy. A Heads Up Display apparently kept track of your radar, your ammo supply, your shields, and how close your gun was to overheating.

_And really, a HUD would be hella nice. If I could see the ammo I have left rather than counting every time I shoot, I would be soooooo happy._

The helmets I saw the three of these guys wearing back on Prime were pretty clunky though. Not exactly something I would care to wear everywhere. The visor Garrus had was probably a lot more convenient to have on you. And it'd probably go for less since it wasn't a large chunk of metal too.

"Well good luck Shepard, maybe they'll listen to you."

_Ah shit, did I just miss- I zoned. Oh my god. Focus man. You CAN NOT day dream during this trial. Shit's too important. _

I regretfully let him pass us without a word, and then, hopped ahead of the group before Shepard had the opportunity to shove me forward again. I still had some dignity left at this point despite the circumstances. As we walked around the large fountain in front of us next, I had to admit, the center of galactic civilization was pretty swanky.

_Which it should be since these guys have been living in the place for like, what? The last 1000 years?_

Trees resembling sea ferns were spread throughout the main floor of the tower, with small little patches of greenery and boulders present too.

_Oh, nice little rock gardens for that Zen atmosphere? I guess even aliens are fans of feng shui huh? ...who am I talking to._

In fact, we quickly found ourselves having to maneuver around the topiary and other accouterments, which was already hard enough without having to dodge all the alien dignitaries and politicos in our way too. Shepard finally let me fall behind her as all the obstacles started to plague us, and left me as I was as we finally approached the set of stairs leading to the final area of the Council Chamber. Once again, Kaidan decided to break our silence.

"This is it. The very heart of the Citadel. The pinnacle of galactic power. Kind of makes your head spin if you think about it too much." I was inclined to agree with him. Shit was pretty heavy. But after no one humored him out loud, he decided to continue. "And you sure have to climb a lot of stairs to reach the Council. Think that's supposed to be symbolic of their importance?"

Ashley apparently disagreed. "I bet all these staircases aren't just for show. They make for good defensive positions if this place is ever attacked."

_Oh my god that foreshadowing._

I have to admit, every time I revisit this game, there was always something new that I had missed.

_Dude, come on, Fo-_

"-cus," Shepard told them. "We're almost there."

We climbed a second set of stairs where we now found Anderson already waiting for us.

"The hearing's already started. Come on."

Shepard just glared back at me like being late was my fault before following Anderson in.

_Oh...right. I guess it kinda was._

Ascending the chamber steps, neither the large rift in the floor nor the Council in front of us was what drew my attention first. Nor was it Udina, who was furiously debating our position. It was none other than the hologram that was a couple stories tall, being projected to the left of it all.

The description I had given the Normandy crew of Saren did him no justice. The dude just looked pure fucking evil. The cybernetic arm on his-

_Ha, it was his left!_

-shoulder looked like he had ripped a Geth in half and stuck it onto his torso. But the actual operation behind it was much more complex, as the intricate tubes and hoses poking out of it wired all across his body. I could tell that they even went all the way into the back of his skull. It just made him look that much more like the synthetics that currently followed him. And with it already being silver, his face rife with cybernetic implants really just made it look that much more robotic. In fact, I found that he resembled the Terminator after it had just had half its face blown clear off. And if the Terminator in this scenario had also been Turian. Metal bars were seemingly fused with his mandibles; parts of his fringe had slivers of metal sunken into them; And his eyes...

Though it was a hologram, I could still tell they were soulless. Husk-like. Tiny little slits that peered at you with malice. Within them were so many divots and dark lines that not one hint was left that they might have even once been organic. My attention was only drawn away from the projection as the Asari councilor mentioned his name.

"-indicate Saren was involved in any way." She seemed very calm in contrast to Udina's heated words.

"The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason either," the Turian added as if his neighbor had not just said that.

And I never quite got that. They closed Vakarian's case before we had even arrived at the Citadel.

_I mean, it took us like less than a day to get here from Eden Prime. And what, was he the only agent assigned to the case too? Just one random agent chosen to investigate a Spectre? They obviously filed this as a joke-_

"Two eyewitnesses saw him kill Nihlus in COLD BLOOD!" Udina spat next, apparently trying win our case through sheer volume of sound.

"We read the Eden Prime reports Ambassador," the Salarian councilor coldly replied next. "The testimony of a traumatized dockworker and shocked marine are hardly compelling proof."

He did have a point there.

_Although when the hell had I become a marine?_

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Udina was now staring at me annoyed.

_Ooh, right, my testimony._

In Phoenix Wright fashion, I pointed an accusing finger at Saren. "There's no doubt that he's the one who killed Nihlus! Nihlus let his guard down once he saw him and then Saren put a BULLET through the back of his head!"

After that riveting and passionate display...they didn't seem impressed. And I felt a shiver creep up my spine as Saren's attention turned to me. You could clearly hear the twisted superiority he thought he had in his voice as he spoke. And though he was addressing the entire room, his eyes told a different story.

"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend."

And as his flanged voice echoed across the chamber, I couldn't help but shrink back. It was more accurate to describe the sound coming from his mouth as what I could only refer to as venom. Venom laced with blatant malice and hatred. Blatant malice and hatred served with a side of insane xenophobia and indoctrination.

_I mean Jesus, he sounds AND looks like a psychopath. For Christ sake, he's doesn't even have face tattoos. That's like the Turian equivalent of an all around scumbag isn't it? How can you all think this dude is innocent of anything?!_

"That just let you catch him off guard!" Anderson countered.

"Captain Anderson." Saren let the word hang in the air as if it were an insult. "You always seem to be involved when Humanity makes false charges against me." He now turned his attention toward Shepard. "And you must be his protégé, the one who let the beacon get destroyed."

I hadn't paid attention to her with all the accusations being thrown around, but now that I had, she currently seemed to be frothing at the mouth.

"The mission to Eden Prime was top secret! The only way you could've known about the beacon is if you had been there!"

_Okay Shepard. Then Saren goes-_

"With Nihlus gone, his files passed to me. I read the Eden Prime report. I was unimpressed."

_It's about time for my witty comeback._

"Funny, I was about to say the same about your ship."

Saren gave me a look, but I couldn't place its intent, as his face was unreadable with those dead, robotic eyes.

"Pardon?"

"The dreadnought that we all saw on Eden Prime." Even though the looks I got from the Humans almost discouraged me, I carried on. "If you looked at the reports, you would've seen the video that I assume was included with it," I said to the Council. "It looked nothing like the Geth designs we came across there. It's design was totally alien. We should be asking right now where their alien dreadnought came from and where Saren found it!"

They just stared blankly at me, making me feel like I was a lunatic. Which was still on the table to be fair.

"We are here for Saren's trial, not for speculating on the Geth's technological advancements," the Turian councilor pointed out.

_Oops, that was true. Lost my train of thought there._

"Typical, shifting the topic to something else once they realized their accusations held no ground. But what could you expect...from Humans."

The sinister-ness of Saren's voice caught me off guard, derailing my next topic of assault. I had forgotten what I had planned to say next. And Shepard was boiling with anger at this point, whether about my off topic point or Saren's remark, I couldn't say. Most likely both.

"You can expect me to kill you the next time we meet," she decided to blatantly threaten him, her voice rife with murderous intent.

And Saren brushed aside her threat like it had just come from a child with a tantrum. Which was also valid. "Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres!"

That remark now got Udina going. "He has noooOoO RIGHT TO SAY THAT! THAT'S NOT. HIS. DECISION!"

The Asari councilor decided to give us this concession. "Shepard's admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting," she told Saren.

"This meeting has no purpose," Saren retorted. "The Humans are wasting your time, councilor. And mine."

"You can't hide behind the Council forever!" Shepard shouted at him.

"And there is still one outstanding issue," Anderson added.

_Oh dear, here it comes._

"The vision that Commander Shepard and Marauder Shield received. They may have been triggered by the beacon."

"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now? How can I defend my innocence against this kind of testimony?" Saren almost seemed to say this laughing...if Turians could.

_Although that comment was true. Oh so true. _

I still hadn't understood why Anderson brought it up. It almost derailed our argument as much as my unintentional tangent did.

"I agree. Our judgment must be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and baseless speculation." Even though it made sense, the Turian councilor still just came across as a dick.

"Do you have anything else to add Commander Shepard?" the Salarian councilor asked.

Shepard just gave them her signature glare. "You made your decision, I won't waste my breath."

And so, the Council ruled their verdict.

And after hearing it, the gang was less than pleased.

Saren didn't fail to gloat over us like the Bond villain he was after their ruling either. "I'm glad to see justice was served."

His hologram flickered out.

"This meeting is adjourned."

With that, we turned back toward the steps, defeated, and descended down the pathway we had came. I noticed Udina taking a moment, staring blankly into space where he stood, before snapping out of his trance and following us down at our rear. And once he reached the bottom, I soon learned why. He wasted not time in lambasting Anderson and I.

"It was a mistake bringing you...and him-" He motioned rudely to me. "-into that hearing, Captain. You and Saren have too much history. That made the council question our motives. And his random tangent about that Geth ship didn't help us either."

I regretted mentioning it too.

Anderson simply replied, "I know Saren. He's working with the Geth for one reason: to exterminate the entire human race!" He was technically correct. Although he wouldn't just stop there. "Every colony we have is at risk. Every world we control is in danger. Even Earth isn't safe."

And with that, I remembered why I had brought the 'Geth ship' up. To bring attention to the true threat. To Sovereign. If I could reveal it was a Reaper early, convince everyone they were coming, convince them that a sentient race of starships billions of years old bent on harvesting all life in the Galaxy would be here at the end of the 2186...maybe we could better prepare for their arrival. But that all relied on them focusing on it instead of Saren though.

So, to facilitate this, I ended up just adding, "And with that dreadnought the Geth had on Eden Prime, there's no way that conventional weaponry could stop them!"

_Nice._

"Tell me about this history between you and Saren," Shepard questioned, completely disregarding my statement.

That surprised me however as I didn't think she would have cared enough to ask. She didn't exactly seem like the empathetic or curious type. More the shoot first, then shoot some more, and then label the dead guilty kind of type.

"I worked with him on a mission a long time ago. Things went bad. Real bad."

_You can read all about it in my latest novel penned by Drew Karpyshyn. Available on the nearest terminal near you!_

I chuckled to myself as I was too witty for my own good. Technically, the novel was like half a decade old now with a handful of sequels. Back in the REAL world anyway.

"We shouldn't talk about this here. But I know what he's like. And he has to be stopped."

Shepard was as adamant as ever that we still didn't need the Council. "We need to deal with Saren ourselves."

_Sigh._

Although her intent on destroying Saren made me realize something.

_...I should stick to the game's script. Don't deviate. If I try to push things on them, it'd probably backfire and result in a scenario like the one that happened earlier. No bueno. Knowledge of the future doesn't really help either if I end up changing it too, does it? Focus on busting Saren now and I can see what I can do later. Good plan, me._

Then I also realized that at the end of this conversation, I was outtie unless I thought of something.

"As a Spectre, he's virtually untouchable. We need to find some way to expose him."

"What about Garrus, the C-Sec investigator?" Kaidan brainstormed. "We saw him arguing with the executor."

"That's right," Ashley chimed in.

I tuned her out as I tried to fumble for a plan. Anderson will mention they can find him through Harkin, but he won't like it. So he'll suggest-

_Aha!_

I came up with my plan right as Shepard finished her racist little comment.

"He's a Turian. I don't want him on our side."

_Oh what the fuck._

I hadn't noticed that Shepard was as racist as shit on top of being a violent dickhead.

_Was it racist though? Or speciest? _

Udina spoke next, and being the voice of reason baffled me even more. "Not all Turians are like Saren. If he can help, we need to find him."

_...man this is fucked. But we better. We are most definitely not defeating Saren and the Geth without the Archangel of Omega_.

_...you still need to work out on how it's going to be 'we'._

"I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us track Garrus down. His name is Harkin."

_Oh shit, this is it._

Anderson voiced his opinions for why they shouldn't waste their time on him. Then Udina rebutted him.

"You won't have to. I don't want the Council using your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore anything we turn up. Shepard will handle this."

_Oh wait. Guess it comes later._

I could actually hear Shepard gritting her teeth now with how Udina had just addressed Anderson.

"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation."

"No Shepard. The ambassador's right. I need to step aside."

Shepard's jaw seemed to drop when the man agreed with Udina. The Ambassador then concluded his business.

"I need to take care of some business. Captain, meet me in my office later."

Our group waited for Udina to walk out of earshot before we continued.

"Harkin's probably getting drunk at Chora's Den. It's a dingy little club in the lower part of the Wards," Anderson informed us.

"I thought he was a drunken loser," Shepard replied.

"Couldn't hurt to go talk to him. Just be careful. I wouldn't call him reliable."

"Are you sure there's no other sources we can go to for evidence?"

_ALRIGHT, here's my chance!_

"Actuallllly," I interjected before Anderson could speak.

Then Shepard cut me off while staring knives at me. "Why are you still here. The trial's over."

The comment kind of hurt. Brought a tear to my eye. But I composed myself before responding despite this.

"Like I said earlier, that bastard Saren can't get away with what he's done. I want to help you take him down." I crossed my arms and leaned against a beam behind me. "And I know someone who might just be able to help."

"I doubt it," Shepard muttered.

I just frowned at her in response. She _really_ didn't trust me did she?

"Barla Von. He knows everything that goes on in the Presidium, if not the entire Citadel."

Anderson supported my claim. "I had heard a rumor he worked for the Shadow Broker. Apparently he's one of his top representatives."

"One of his most _public_ representatives," I corrected.

Anderson went on. "He might know something about Saren. But his information won't come cheap."

_And that's where I come in._

"As a fellow agent, I might be able to get a deal on what he's offering," I said smugly. "I'll go to him and see what he might have for us."

_They didn't need to know that the information they were looking for was already free. And that I already knew it. And that-_

"Alenko, I want you to go with him. Make sure he doesn't try anything. If he is working with Saren..."

I stopped her before she could finish. "I'm not." I met her stare head on before continuing. "But if it makes you feel any better, fine. I'd be glad to have the lieutenant tag along. I'm not hiding anything." I subsequently swore like a sailor in my head after I had said it. If I actually claimed to work for the Broker in front of Barla, that was a sure fire way to expose my story for the weak lie that it was. I wasn't even planning on actually SEEING the guy.

"Then I guess while they talk to him, we can go find Harkin at Chora's Den Commander," Ashley said.

Anderson seemed to approve of our plan.

"It sounds like you all have everything sorted out, so I'll be heading to the Ambassador's office. You can find me there if you need me."

He paused to look at Shepard once more before taking his leave.

"Good luck Commander."

* * *

Author's Notes:

**Big dump. Chapter 6 and hopefully the last edits for every chapter before it. **

**(2016 Edit: It wasn't.)**

**(2016 V2 Edit: Apparently nexbe isn't a word.)**

**Next time: Barla Von's On, Harkin's harking up the wrong tree, and enter Team Normandy. **

**Catch you next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	7. Pretending to be a Professional PI

I found that flying in the sky car the second time was a lot more traumatizing. Having a window seat this time did not comfort me either. In fact, I think it made it worse. I guessed that not many people visited the Citadel Tower as there were only a handful of cars that had headed towards the top with us back then. But apparently, traveling to the Presidium's Financial District was a different story.

Tens of hundreds of thousands of cars flit by us as we shot past them at something close to 100 mph. Traffic lanes seemed non-existent as vehicles jerked up at the last second to avoid head-on collisions, swerving wildly to barely avoid catastrophic crashes. I was glad most were driven by on board VIs as I couldn't imagine driving one manually. But the fact the VIs were most likely the one's driving like this did little to reassure me. One little bump and BOOM, you exploded 200 feet above the air taking every vehicle in your radius with you, not to mention the endangerment of the thousands below. It was madness.

I dug my nails into the seat.

_We're definitely walking next time._

Kaidan and I were sitting in the back of the car together. Both of us deciding to bear the ride in silence. Awkward as it was, I was somewhat grateful as it gave me time to make up my next plan of attack. When Shepard had assigned him to watch me, it had really thrown a wrench in my plans. Or more like grenade.

_When we meet with Barla Von, Kaidan's going to expect the Volus to recognize me as another agent straight away. Or if not, that I straight up tell the Volus that I work for the Shadow Broker. And if I did that...yeah. We're not going to do that._

I hadn't even planned to meet the Volus. I already knew where to find Wrex and Garrus. We honestly didn't need to talk to no one. But pretending to have resources and contacts made me valuable, someone they would want for help to take down Saren. Even if I wasn't the best shot in the world, and if the talent window was for real, I could get close enough to it. And with seemingly endless information on everything and decent enough abilities with a rifle, I'd become invaluable to the Normandy.

But of course with Kaidan tagging along, I would actually have to interact with Barla. I cursed my luck.

I should have just said that I knew where they both were.

_But how would I explain Wrex then? God dammit. This sucks._

"Hey Kaidan-"

He turned his head away from his window.

I decided honesty is the best policy in this scenario.

"-I'm gonna be honest with ya. I don't know Barla personally. I only knew that he works for the Broker. And you know how I might have mentioned working for the Broker would probably get us a freebie?"

"Yeah?" he replied concerned.

"Well one of his rules for us is to not reveal that you work for him under any situation." I reflected on the statement. "Unless it's under extraordinary circumstances of course." Exhibit A for this lie.

"Uh alright. So how do you plan to get any information on Saren?" He paused to think over what I had said. "And how do people know that Barla Von works for the Shadow Broker then?"

I addressed his questions in that order. To the best of my ability anyway.

"Right now, I know for a fact that the Broker and Saren aren't on the best of terms. If we just ask about the Turian, Barla might cut us a deal since the Broker has it out for him. And there's a difference between his information _brokers_ and information _agents_."

He seemed sated. "Alright then. Well in that case, I'll follow your lead."

Our sky car finally slowed and descended to our transit stop, conveniently coinciding with our conversation's conclusion. The first thing I noticed stepping out onto the walkway was that we were under a large patch of shade. Looking around, I suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a miniature forest, as a large swath of trees adorned the sides of the Presidium street we were on.

_Nifty._

They really made this place with aesthetics in mind. As I got oriented with where we were, I told Kaidan to take a right.

_If my memory serves correctly..._

I walked towards the first door we came across, and as it slid open, thank the lord, I immediately found the Volus talking into one of his many computers. He seemed fairly preoccupied with whomever he was conversing with though. Kaidan and I had to wait a good amount of time until he finally finished his work and turned his attention toward us.

"Ones of the Earth-clan. For what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Barla Von?" I asked already knowing the answer. "We're here on the behalf of Commander Shepard."

"Ah," he cut in before I could ask him what I wanted. "The famous Shepard. The one at Torfan, correct? She led the final assault against the enemy base, if memory serves."

_With Shepard's sunny disposition, I'm not surprised to hear that she's 'the Butcher'._

"Uh, yeah. That would be her."

"I noticed she had arrived. As a financial adviser to many important clients, I take notice when people of her stature come to the Citadel."

_Blah blah blah, I have information on your service record, I know everyone who comes and gos, I know where you sleep at night, blah blah blah-_

"Alright," I replied curtly. It was annoying how hard he was trying to flaunt his information.

_Look at that, the pot's calling the tea kettle black._

_...Shut up._

"We heard you work for the Shadow Broker, so I'm assuming you know some things. We're currently looking for some information on a Spectre called Saren."

"You are quite blunt Earth-clan. But you are right. I am an agent for the Shadow Broker. And I do happen to have information on Saren."

"Great, let's hear it."

"This information is usually worth a small fortune. But this is an unusual situation. So I'm going to let you have it for a small fee."

_Alright now we just have to-FEE?! Dah Fuq!?_

"How much?" Kaidan asked for me.

"Only one small favor. But I'll give you what you want to hear first as a show of good faith."

_Well...I GUESS that's manageable if it's just a short chore...but why wasn't it free?! What the hell dude!_

"The Shadow Broker is quite upset with Saren right now. They actually used to do a lot of business. Until Saren turned on him."

I noticed Kaidan staring at me with concern after hearing that tidbit.

_Great. Just add that to the list of reasons why I'm not making it to the Normandy._

"I'm guessing he bribed one of your lackeys?" I asked trying to speed up the conversation to no avail.

"I don't know the details, but the Shadow Broker hired a freelancer to deal with it. A krogan mercenary."

"That's not much to go on," Kaidan replied.

_Dammit dude. Stop asking questions. I just want to get out of herrrrre-_

"I just told you the most famous Spectre in the galaxy betrayed the Shadow Broker. Quite a bargain, considering the price."

"Alright, alright. Where can we find this mercenary?" I asked annoyed.

"Not so fast Earth-clan. If you want the rest, I'll need that payment."

_Daaaaaammit-_

"So...what do you want?"

"There's a man that goes by the name of Fist. He owns the night club called Chora's Den in the Wards."

I wondered what the hell he could want from his coworker.

_We're headed in that direction any way dude so ask away. No skin off our backs._

"He has some information I would like to procure. He should keep everything I want on an OSD. He most likely keeps it in his office at the back of his club. If you were to acquire this device for me, I would consider that a sufficient trade for my information."

"Done," I replied although Alenko looked like he might have objections.

"Good...I heard the Krogan mercenary was paying a visit to Citadel Security. If you hurry you might catch him before he leaves the Academy."

"Why would-" Kaidan started before I cut him off.

"Alright thanks Barla, we'll head there right away. Appreciate the help. We'll be sure to keep in touch! Thanks again! Bye!"

I urged Kaidan out of the store, waving to the short round Volus behind us.

"My pleasure,*ksshh*, Earth-clan."

Once we were outside, Kaidan wheeled to face me. "Why did he just give us the rest of the information we wanted? We didn't even do what he had asked yet."

I decided just to feed him the first lie I thought of. "He knows that if you ever want to do business with him again, we would get him that OSD."

_Although I'm pretty sure that might have actually been the real reason too._

I wondered to myself though why he had even asked us for a favor in the first place.

_Was it because we had gone to see him instead of Shepard? What could be on the disc that Fist hadn't already told the Shadow Broker? Why were we deviating so far from the game's script already?! Oh god, why?!_

"And did he say back there that Saren and the Broker used to work together!?"

_...Well...I guess I can worry about all that later. _

I took some time before answering his question this time around. Had to be careful here.

"Well...the Shadow Broker is a neutral party. He's a universal resource that everyone has at their disposal. He doesn't play politics, and he doesn't 'work' with anybody." Making quotations in the air with the word didn't seem to convince him. But I decided to keep laying it on. "Look, I had no idea they had done business. Obviously it was a bad decision too as we've all seen how insane Saren is. And past aside, the Broker just helped us with our case against him."

That seemed to placate the Lieutenant for now. "Alright, I believe you...do you want to radio the Commander or should I?"

"I'll do it," I said. But then I additionally begged, "But please...can you not mention that to her? If she heard that the Broker and Saren might have worked together once...she'd never trust me again. Ever."

He looked away before addressing me. "...No...I understand what you mean. It'll stay between you and me."

I smiled at him and simply said "Thank you." I then tapped the earpiece that I had become aware of when Kaidan fixed my translator and tuned it to the frequency Shepard had given me with my omni-tool.

"Shepard?"

"...what is it?" she replied curtly in my ear.

"We got a lead from Barla. Apparently Saren pissed off the Broker and recently hired a Krogan mercenary to deal with the problem he created. He's currently at C-Sec."

"...That's just where we we're headed. We'll meet you there."

_What._

"Really?" I asked concerned.

_Did Harkin not pull through?...Oh god...did she beat the shit out of him before he could spill the beans? Don't tell me that she killed-_

"The drunk at Chora's said the Turian might be at C-Sec or a Doctor's office in the Wards. I'm betting on the former."

_Oh, alright, fine. Time to continue playing detective then I suppose._

"You know what, while you go to C-Sec looking for Garrus and the Krogan, we'll check that Doctor out for you. Even if Garrus isn't there, we could still stock up on medical supplies."

"...Fine. Kaidan, I'll send you the coordinates. We'll radio you if we actually find anything."

"Same," Kaidan replied over the radio next.

"...Also, we were attacked by some Turians that were working for Saren on our way to check out Harkin. Keep an eye out. They might have an informant."

_Oh my god. She REALLY doesn't trust me._

"Got it Commander, thanks."

And with that, radio silence.

I turned to Kaidan, in hopes of bonding with at least one person on the ship.

"Welp...I'm not looking forward to this."

"Why's that?" he asked as another sky car began to land beside us.

"Last time I visited a clinic, it just left me drained. Just really sucked the life out of me."

"Oh? How do you mean?"

"I had to donate some blood."

"..."

"..."

He sighed.

* * *

**Team Shepard, Moments Earlier.**

The Wards were very different from the Presidium. And that was quite the understatement. Dark alleys and dim lighting seemed to be the norm here, trash littered around every turn. Shady dealers and merchants offered deals for products and equipment they shouldn't have. Alien vagrants begged for handouts across the streets, latching on to the first person that paid them the slightest attention. And in every corridor, it was nigh impossible for one to escape from the closely packed, bustling walkways filled with mobs of transients and civilians, making it difficult for her and Williams to make any sort of head way toward where they needed to go.

The lack of progress they were making, in addition to the amount of aliens knocking into her caused Shepard to quickly lose her patience. And they had just gotten out of their sky car not moments ago.

"Williams, how far away are we from this club?" she growled.

"I just saw a sign for it when we got out Commander. It should be straight through this area and on our right."

"It better," she muttered. "I could use a drink right about now."

She continued her pace as Williams' eyes simply followed her in disbelief. Every offhand comment Shepard had seemed to do that to her. After Williams caught up, they eventually came to an empty alley way that seemed to stretch on forever. It was swathed in long shadows cast by dull crimson lights.

"Hey Commander...I'm getting a real bad feeling about this place."

"Anyone would be stupid to pick a fight with two heavily armed Alliance marines Williams."

"All the same Commander..."

But as Shepard predicted, there was nothing of interest there, and Williams' intuition was proved unfounded as they exited the other side of the alley without encountering the smallest instance of trouble. And upon exiting it, they walked through a doorway on their right that emptied out into an large open chamber (by the standards of the Wards at least). A chest high barrier separated them from a large rectangular pit in the center of the area, and a large neon sign depicting an Asari flashed above them. Shepard had just began to make her way towards the bar before she made eye contact with two Turians leaning against a wall across the pit from them.

"That's her."

Her instincts kicked in as she immediately took cover. Williams wasn't as fast, having her shield take a couple hits before she was able to follow suit.

"What the hell!?" she shouted over their volley.

Shepard wasted no time.

She popped back up after deploying a barrier to absorb the incoming fire, immediately emptying her Kessler into the Turian across from them. It lost its shields before it quickly decided to get back to cover. Then Williams took that as her cue, standing up to return fire now that one of them was cowering behind the wall. Wasting no time, Shepard ran past the marine and took a left around the corridor's waist high divider, taking several steps before turning another left into the corridor where the two aliens were currently taking cover.

Her hardsuit had just popped it's epinephrine stores, so they couldn't react fast enough when she shot a single bullet into the head of the Turian that had just lost its shields, and then sent a mass effect field at the one behind it. Without a misstep, Williams immediately riddled it with bullets as it floated up into the air helpless. After her gun overheated, Shepard's biotics dissipated, and it's body fell down into the abyss at the center of the room.

"Those were Saren's men," Williams said.

Shepard grunted in affirmative as she holstered her weapon and approached the entrance of the bar. They were on to something here. And she was going to find out what.

Surprisingly, not one person in the club had seemed to notice the gun fight outside. But that was probably just due to the deafening music booming throughout it, and the scantily clad women drawing the attention of those that still had their wits about them.

"A million light years from where Humanity began and we walk into a bar filled with men drooling over half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can't decide whether that's funny or sad."

"Maybe they're just here for the food."

As the Chief was left speechless, Shepard decided to walk towards the bar scanning the room. She was looking for the description of the drunk that Anderson had given her. A Caucasian male, balding, grey goatee, ugly smile. Unfortunately for her, she heard him before she saw him.

"Hey there, sweetheart. You looking for some fun? 'Cause I gotta say, that soldier getup looks real good on that bod of yours."

But wait, he had more.

"Why don't you sit your sweet little ass down beside old Harkin? Have a drink and we'll see where this goes."

She paused where she was, and then, very slowly, turned to face him. She stared him down for all of a second before flitting her lashes back.

"I just might."

She took a seat across from him, and behind her, Williams just stood there aghast.

"Harkin? I was told you could maybe help me find someone. A Turian C-Sec officer named Garrus?"

"Garrus? Ha! Forget him sweet cheeks. You should stick around and have some fun with me instead."

"I just might," she sweetly cooed back. "But I should really tell my CO where he could find him first."

He looked her up and down. "Alright...on one condition."

"Oh?" Shepard said with interest.

"You buy us a couple drinks. That way, we'll be nice and loose for later." His face was accompanied by a wide grin.

Turning her head, she motioned to a waitress. The erotic dancer quickly nodded back and approached the bartender for them.

After this, Harkin started to talk. "Alright, looks like we're having fun now!...Yeah, I know where Garrus might be. But inste...wait...if you're looking for Garrus, you must be with Anderson's crew. Poor bastard's still trying to bring down Saren eh?" He ignored her eye twitch and continued to run his mouth. "Hey, before he told you to come, did the Captain let you in on his big secret?"

"What are you talking about?" Williams actually asked humoring him.

An even larger grin grew across Harkin's face now. "The Captain used to be a Spectre. Didn't know that did you? It was all very hush-hush. The first human ever given that honor. And then he blew it." Shepard's stepford smile had now completely disappeared as Harkin chuckled at what he perceived to be a joke. "Screwed up his mission so bad they kicked him out. 'Course he blames Saren. Said the Turian set him up."

"Your lying. How do you even know the Captain?" Williams snapped back.

"Met him a few times over the years. One of those hard core military guys. Yes sir! No sir! Can't have any fun with a stick up your ass sir!" he sneered. "Probably why he climbed the Alliance ranks so fast. The military loves brown nosers."

"Where can we find Garrus," Shepard didn't ask so much as command.

"Last I heard he was sniffing around Dr. Michel's office. She runs a med clinic on the other side of the Wards. But he's probably back at C-Sec by now." Then he bent over the table. "Now I get to ask you somethin'," he said grinning. "How wide does that pretty little-"

Shepard immediately ripped the table aside with freakish strength, sending it flying back toward the bar in the middle of the room. And as Harkin took a step back from where the table had just been in sheer terror, he next found her right fist meeting his face, encased in a biotic field. A sickening crack accompanied it as the blow connected with his jaw. Several molars were sent flying. And then, after the man immediately hit the floor, she bent over him and picked him back up by the collar of his shirt. Without a break, she slammed the degenerate back against the club's floor, and then took a knee over Harkin's limp body, whispering into his ear.

"You were right. This was fun."

Harkin was already unconscious when she lifted him up one last time and proceeded to fling him over her shoulder toward the bar. His head collided with their table that was already lying across the counter.

Leaving him where he had landed, she motioned to Williams. "Let's go."

"Damn Commander," she could only mouth as they walked back towards the entrance. The patrons they passed wisely averted their eyes or completely turned their heads in the opposite direction.

The Krogan bouncer had almost made a move to confront her before it decided to back down once she gave it a side wards glance.

And once they had exited the club, their radios received a call from none other than Shield and Kaidan.

"Shepard?"

* * *

**Team Shield, Back to the Present.**

The sky car had dropped us both off right outside Dr. Michel's office. And as we exited the car, I wasted no time in giving Kaidan one last heads up for the scene we were about to walk into.

"Hey, Kaidan, be on your toes. Those Turian mercenaries Shepard mentioned might be here too."

Although he didn't quite seem to take my warning to heart. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out."

That's not something you say to let someone know you're going to take their advice to heart. That was something someone says to let you know that they heard you but don't really care enough to actually listen to what you had to say. Or actually, it was something someone says to let you know that they were _listening_, but that they didn't really _hear_ what you had to say. Actually, I think it REALLY might be what someone says when you-

"I didn't tell anyone I Swear!"

"That was smart, Doc."

I saddled up next to the LT who had just taken a few steps into the clinic before pressing himself against the wall, realizing shit was going down like I had just warned. He listened, but he should have heard me. Or rather, he heard me, but didn't-

"Now if Garrus comes around, you'll stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll-"

It was at this point Kaidan decided to no longer listen, and instead, jump into action. Be a big goddamn hero, leap from the shadows, announce our presence kind of deal. The whole shebang. And I decided to follow him out against my better judgement. Of course in response, the thug spun around to face us, tightening his arm around the Doctor's neck while shouting.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Your worst nightmare," I said gruffly to play the role, fingering the gun at my hip.

In return, Kaidan gave me a look. Apparently not the image he was going for.

In any case, the thug didn't have time to register the threat as Garrus immediately turned the corner and popped the guy right in the head. Poor bastard hadn't had any kinetic shields. The others were too overwhelmed to act with how the odds had just turned against them. They practically froze in place as three heavily armed gunslingers apparated out of thin air right before them. And after it was all said and done, the bad guys all laid dead, and the C-Sec agent turned to thank us for our good work.

"Perfect timing. You two gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

"Nice shot," I shot back to him. "But, uh...weren't you afraid that you might've hit the Doctor?"

"Yeah, you could've killed her!" Kaidan agreed angrily.

"There wasn't time to think. I just reacted. I didn't mean to-Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

We all turned to her as she got up from where she had just been hiding. And she slowly spoke, obviously still rattled.

"No. I'm okay. Thankz to vou...Thankz to all of vou."

And she was actually hella cute. Bright red hair kept in a bobcut, fair skin, heart faced shape...and her French accent definitely didn't hurt. Really hit that damsel in distress role well. In fact, she actually kind of, maybe resembled the Command-no, sorry, I take that back. They were similar to each other so far as the color of their hair. The biggest difference between them...what separated the two were their eyes.

The Doctor's were soft, gentle...and maybe had just a tad dash of caring.

Shepard's were the complete opposite. You'd be lucky to even find a microgram of caring in them.

As I admired the doctor's face, Kaidan was the first to begin our game of twenty questions. "Who were they? Why were they threatening you? Who did they work for?"

And in return, the Doctor took a breath before answering. "They said they worked for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the Quarian."

"What Quarian?" Kaidan asked.

"A few days ago-"

_Blah blah blah blah._

None of this was new to me. So instead, I turned my attention to the next most interesting thing in room. Which happened to be Vakarian. He still looked like he was coming down from the fire fight. His eyes seemed restless, moving around shiftily, and the Turian still gripped his gun fairly tight. Admiring the Turian from afar, my attention to him was only broken when I next heard Shepard's voice over my ear piece.

"Shield, what's your current situation?"

I walked back towards the entrance so I didn't interrupt the Doctor's exposition for the two.

"We just found Garrus at Dr. Michel's. Some of Fist's thugs were threatening her. We have reason to believe the guy is working for Saren." Coincidentally, I turned around when I heard something related to my imaginary boss.

"-an agent for the Shadow Broker."

And as I did, I saw that Kaidan was peering at me again.

_Fair enough. But why's the Shadow Broker got to be such a shady guy? He's making this really hard for me._

Shepard responded, "Good to hear you reached the same conclusion. We met the Krogan mercenary at C-Sec and he just told us the same thing. We're nearing Fist's now. Head over here as soon as you can."

"Will do," I replied as she signed off.

Even after that back and forth, I came back to find the Doctor still talking.

"Saren must've made him quite the offer..."

"That Quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."

"Well then. I guess we should go find her," I suggested.

Acknowledging my response, Garrus continued his grandiose epiphany. "She must have something linking Saren to the Geth."

"Well...let's go find her then," I repeated.

Again acknowledging my response, Garrus continued his grandiose epiphany. "In fact, it must be evidence! There's no way the Council can ignore this!"

"She must be at Fist's right now. How can we get to her?" Kaidan asked the Doctor and Turian next.

He had apparently turned his earpiece off so her story wasn't interrupted. Or for some other reason I wasn't aware of. In any case, I decided to mention that Shepard had already left to assault his hideout. And of course, THAT's what got everyone's attention. Even though I had already suggested it a dozen times by this point already. When it was Shepard suggesting something, OH, suddenly it's the best move in the world.

"What?! We have to get there!" Kaidan immediately panicked.

But the young C-Sec agent stopped Kaidan right before he turned to leave. "This is your and Shepard's show. But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

"The more the merrier," I replied in his stead. While Kaidan seemed to want to say something else, he decided to keep it to himself in the end.

As we made our way for the door however, Garrus seemed to have an afterthought and stopped our group one more time. "Actually, those thugs also mentioned something about you giving your supplies to someone Doctor. Or they would reveal your secret. What were they talking about?"

As attention was suddenly brought upon herself once again, Doctor Michel looked quite uncomfortable. And I could identify with that. Because-

_What? That whole thing didn't start until, like, the second Citadel visit. Right? ...Definitely! And with a Krogan. Not Fist's thugs-_

"I...a long time ago, I had been caught giving out medical supplies to small clinics much like this one. When my employers found out, they fired me. Never filed any charges. They just wanted me to leave without any fuss."

I still didn't really follow that logic when told in person either. "That's pretty admirable doctor," I told her. "Wanting to help the less fortunate? Not exactly something you should be ashamed of."

"Thank you," she said. "But if word ever got out that I gave away medical supplies, I could lose my license, I could lose my clinic!" she elaborated distraught.

_Oh. Right._

"If I didn't give their contact what they wanted, they said...they said they'd expose my secret..."

She seemed to be on the verge of tears now.

"So they were extorting you too. Doctor, after we're finished with Fist, I'll take care of it for you," Garrus said with vindication.

She only looked up now with a sad smile. "Thank you," she choked out, wiping a tear from her eye. "This is the store clerk they wanted me to go to."

Glancing over the slip taken from her, Garrus replied, "I know him. I'll check it out."

"And we'd be glad to lend a hand too, wouldn't we Kaidan!"

He didn't seem to share my enthusiasm.

"We should really get going to help the Commander."

"Right," Garrus replied.

"Oh, good luck!" Dr. Michel shouted after us as we then decided to book it out of her clinic.

And we three silent heroes set off in the direction of Fist's club.

Kaidan turned to me as we began jogging through the district.

"..."

"..."

"...your worst nightmare?"

* * *

**Team Shepard, Back to the Club.**

"Williams!"

"I see him Commander!"

The marine quickly sniped the thug that had been taking cover on top of the bar.

The fools in this room seemed completely unprepared, as that was the fifth one lacking any kind of kinetic barrier.

The Krogan mercenary that accompanied them was now wrestling with one of Fist's own to her right. A quick headbutt followed by a biotic field told her the two were on completely different levels. And a subsequent shotgun to the face of Fist's Krogan confirmed it.

As the last two guards were blown away by the grenade they had just ignored, Shepard cautiously lowered her weapon.

"Fist had a good thing going here...too bad he got greedy," the Krogan seemed to say to no one in particular as he returned to their company.

Ignoring him, Shepard continued to Fist's back room. They didn't have time to waste on chatting.

Sliding open the door, she found two more guards aiming their weapons at her.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!"

"Warehouse workers. All the real guards must be dead," the Krogan surmised behind her.

"Stay back or we'll shoot."

Annoyed, Shepard simply decided to stare them down. "I just killed fifty bodyguards to get here...what do you think I'll do to you."

"Uh..well...uhhhh.."

"Aw, screw Fist. He doesn't pay us enough for this."

Gladly following his companion's lead, the two men both dropped their weapons and in return, Shepard let them pass by.

"Hm. Never would've thought that would work," Williams remarked.

"It would've been quicker just to kill them," the Krogan humphed.

But that's because neither of them were N7. The Alliance trained their soldiers well enough to distinguish between civilians and those with the actual intent to kill. And the N program taught that additional step of discretion on the field, which including conserving ammo when necessary. Those two stooges weren't worth the time contrary to what the mercenary beside her thought.

As they reached his office, Shepard was able to catch sight of Fist right before he dived behind his desk. "Why do I have to do everything myself!" he didn't fail to shout from behind. But the turrets he activated were no match for the two trained Alliance marines and Krogan Battlemaster. With their destruction, they now approached the desk Fist was cowering behind with ease. And they found the man to be as pathetic as he seemed. "Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender!"

"Tell me where the Quarian is and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps," she threatened.

"She's not here!" he whimpered. "I don't know where she is. That's the truth!"

She frowned. "Wrong answer."

She lowered her gun and shot him in the foot.

"AGH. What the f-OKAY. OKAY. I'll talk. Unnh...please no more."

"Talk."

"Okay! I...I don't know where the Quarian is but I know where you can-AH." He gripped his boot in pain. "...she...she said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."

"Impossible. Even_ I_ was hired by a third party," the Krogan scoffed.

"That's what I said. But she wouldn't have it. So I lied to her. Told her I'd set a meeting up...but when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

Shepard only hated one thing more than Batarians. And that was those who went back on their word. Those that had no sense of duty. Or loyalty. Those most would call traitors_._

"Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your head off," she growled.

He practically pissed himself with the remark. "Here in the Wards. The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now. You can make it if you hurry."

"Shepard-" the Krogan started but she held a hand up.

"Too many people died her, Fist. You don't get to walk away."

"What! But I did everything you asked!"

"You did. So I won't be the one to do it."

Then she nodded to the Krogan. He smiled in return.

"NO, Wa-"

A data chip was knocked off his table as Wrex had taken care of him. Curious, she picked it up as the Krogan did the same with Fist's body.

_So Fist had worked for the Shadow Broker. And then Saren. So...this disc might have information on one or both of them. And if it does...it might even have information concerning Shield's connections to both-_

"That Quarian's dead if we don't go now!" Williams sputtered.

She was right.

"Alenko!"

No reply.

"Alenko!"

Nothing again. Annoyed, she tried radioing the other.

"Shield!"

"...*krsh* little busy here *krsh*-pard!"

She could hear the sounds of bullets flying in the background.

"...but we got *krsh* Quarian. Some back-up would-"

And then his radio cut out.

* * *

**Team Shield, Moments Earlier.**

"Hey guys did you hear that?" I lied to them.

"...Hm? I didn't hear anything," Kaidan replied as he walked past the alley way. The particular alley way adjacent to the room leading to Chora's Den. The particular I knew we needed to go down as of right now.

"There!" I lied again now rushing towards the alley's door, hoping they'd follow my lead. Kaidan had been instructed to keep an eye on me after all.

_Because if you both don't, the mercenaries meeting Tali will totally kill me._

"Shield where are you going!"

It did cross my mind that Kaidan might consider me a threat and do the same too. But I knew Fist was already getting taken care of, and I didn't want to risk anything by going there only to have to double back and find ourselves too late. And as the door slid open in front of me, I saw what I wanted. There was little Vas Normandy meeting Saren's goon squad at the bottom of the stairwell.

"Did you bring it?" the Turian asked, stroking her helmet.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?"

Luckily, my two compatriots had decided to follow me and saw what was going down.

"They'll be here. Where's the evidence?"

Now he was bringing his arm down along her waist.

And as it was, I quickly came to realize this was kind of creepy to watch.

"No way, deal's off."

He looked back at his Salarian entourage and then back to her.

"What?"

"YO, She said the deal's OFF!" I decided to kick things off by shouting.

The Turian and his Salarians looked toward us in bewilderment, where they were then subsequently blinded by Tail's flashbang. I then did my regular routine of rolling to cover. Bullets had already started whizzing by. Kaidan put up a barrier and was returning fire at them in the middle of the stair well. Our own Turian was now hidden behind a pillar, leaning out of it to fire at Saren's men.

"Alenko!"

_What the..._

It was a woman's voice.

"Shield!"

I realized it was my radio. Then an energy blast from someone's gun hit my cover.

_JESUS!_

"I'm a little BUSY here Shepard!"

But I decided to fill her in.

"We got the Quarian but some back-up would be really nice right about now!"

Or that's what I would've said if another carnage blast hadn't hit my cover. The impact of the shot had actually knocked me away from where I was crouching. Strong enough force to rattle my cover and pop me off it. Now, it wasn't of my own volition but I subsequently popped up from where I had just been knocked over. Then quickly resting my Predator on top of the crate I had been hiding behind, I lined a shot up at the Turian responsible. And he too happened to be lining a shot up. At my head.

But he crumpled to the ground first. Head taken clean off.

"Nice shot!"

"...Thanks," I replied to Garrus, staying where I was kneeling. Head currently reeling.

_I just blew that Turian's head off...that thing popped like a balloon...oh my god...did I really just do that?...because that...was freaking AWESOME! _

I then bent over and vomited on my feet. It was the color of the small meal I had eaten back on the Normandy. Reddish brown.

"Uh, you okay there Shield?" Kaidan asked as he looked over. Thankfully Garrus hadn't seen it as he was already approaching Tali. If Garrus thought I was lame, I didn't know what I'd do.

"Yup," I shot back grimacing. He didn't seem to believe me. And I wouldn't either with how my hands were trembling. And the vomit on the ground. The throw-up probably had the most to do with it. I looked back at the ground.

_Grody._

I was still coming to terms with taking my first life when I next heard Tail fuming.

"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!"

I spat once more before finally approaching the trio at the bottom. And lo and behold, I could hear Shepard and Co. just arriving on the scene after me.

_Ah the gang's all here._

Turning back to address them, Shepard flew down the stairs quicker than I could blink.

"You've got proof Saren is working with the Geth. Hand it over."

Shepard really did have no bed side manners.

"Woah Commander. First, you're welcome that we kept her safe for you. Second,-" I turned to our Quarian. "-are you okay Tali?"

I felt the Commander glaring at me before Tali piped up.

"How do you know my name?"

_Oh dammit._

I scrambled for an answer.

_Kaidan was with me the entire time so I couldn't lie and say Barla or the Doctor told me...shit._

"...You're technically royalty where you come from," I decided to answer. "I tend to be well-informed about important people."

"She's a princess?" Williams asked incredulously.

"Well I guess I can cross rescuing one off my bucket list," Kaidan remarked.

"What? No I'm-," Tali started before Shepard told us to quiet and asked for her evidence again.

Tali, I assumed, stared back at her indignantly. And she quickly dropped my slip-up. "I'm grateful for your help but not so fast. Who are you?"

"Friends," I told her.

"We don't have time for questions," Shepard told her. "I need this evidence you have against Saren."

"I guess I owe you. But not out here in the open. We need to go somewhere safe."

"The Ambassador's office," Kaidan spoke up. "It's safe there. He'll want to see this anyway."

Ashley scrunched her face. "What smells?"

In turn, Shepard barked at us all to get a move on for the Embassies. And that's when I noticed our Krogan for the first time. I quickly averted my eyes from the eight foot tall monster carrying a corpse on his shoulder as any sensible person would. The guy was simply monstrous.

And so, the seven of us left the alley and called for two sky cars to take us to the Embassy Suites. Wrex decided he wanted to drop Fist's body off first though and called for his own taxi. And so our investigation had come to an end.

* * *

**Team Normandy, Back to the Future.**

As we entered his office, Udina was less than pleased with us.

"You're not making my life easy, Shepard. Firefights in the Wards? An all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you know how many-" His eyes practically popped out of their sockets when he saw our motley crew. "Who is this? A Quarian? What are you up to Shepard?"

"This Quarian can help us bring down Saren. I would've told you that if you hadn't jumped down my throat."

I had to agree with her there. Apparently Udina did too.

"I apologize, Commander. This whole thing with Saren has me a bit on edge. Maybe we should just start at the beginning Miss-?"

"My name is Tali. Tali' Zorah nar Rayya."

_Aaand this is where we get our boring Quarian exposition. _

Our group was getting pretty large. I was more used to only having two companions at a time. Shepard was at the fore, left hand on her hip, probably glaring at Udina or at some pedestrian way off in the distance. Williams and Alenko were to my right, listening attentively to our guest. Garrus was behind me, probably twitching his mandibles or something as he sat through the lecture too. Glancing over my shoulder at him, I realized he was a lot taller than I had thought. He had at least half a foot on me. The dude was like Shaq.

And deciding to lastly glance to the far right of the room, I found that Tali was also a fairly interesting individual. The intricate patterns and different hues of violet on her exosuit really drew your eye. I would've just thought someone was wearing a fancy space burqa though if it wasn't for her three toes and fingers. The only thing that really bothered me about her right now was her distinct-

_Russian?_

-accent as she droned on and on. I actually almost dozed off a couple times. After the shenanigans in the Wards, I definitely deserved a chance to kick back. There had been way too much craziness for me to not just simply collapse from exhaustion. But I realized we weren't quite done yet as I heard Saren's voice suddenly boom across the room.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"That's Saren's voice," Anderson said pointing out the obvious. "This proves he was involved with the attack!"

"Saren won't get out of this one," Shepard said gruffly.

_Shepard WOULD ignore one of the most important plot points of the game. _

I was about to point out the Conduit before Tali spoke.

"Wait there's more. Saren wasn't working alone."

_Eden Prime, Victory, Beacon, Blah blah blah..._

"And one step closer to the return of the reapers."

Benezia's sultry voice was very distinct.

"I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about Reapers."

I decided to spill some deets. It couldn't hurt. In fact, it'd just make me look better. "That sounded like Matriarch Benezia," I replied.

"Who?" Anderson asked.

"She's a very well known Asari...uh...I guess you could say spiritual guru? It doesn't make sense for her to be involved with Saren though."

Shepard was focused on what the voice had said rather than whom it belonged to.

"I feel like I've heard that name before."

"Benezia?" I asked knowing that was the wrong answer.

"No. The Reapers."

Tali piped up. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished. At least, that's what the Geth believe."

"Sounds a little far-Fetched," Udina scoffed.

_It really does looking at it objectively._

Then Shepard gasped.

"The vision on Eden Prime. I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers!"

"Oh Shit," I accidentally said aloud.

I had meant to repeat it sarcastically in my head.

But with the slip up, everyone turned to me.

_Whoops...let's see what I can cook up..._

"According to some archaeologists I talked with on Therum-" I lied.

_Hopefully the mention of the planet leads Shepard there first._

"-all the cultures existing around the time of the Protheans shared one particular story. A story of one specific boogeyman. The Reapers. If the beacon wasn't some kind of Prothean prank...then the Reapers...could be more than just myths."

I let the thought hang in the air.

_Nice save._

"The Geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring them back," Tali added.

"The Council is just going to love this."

"Might not be wise to mention the part about the 50,000 year old killer robots," I threw out there.

"No matter what they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren's a traitor," Anderson stated.

"The Captain's right. We need to present this to the Council right away."

"What about her? The Quarian?" Williams said bluntly.

"My name is Tali," the 'Quarian' sassed back. "You can ask your squad how I did in the alley, Commander. They know what I can do. Let me come with you."

"I vouch for her abilities Shepard," I blurted.

She didn't turn to face me. I decided to continue arguing Nar Rayya's case.

"Even if she didn't know her way around a gun, she would obviously be helpful in getting us more intel from the Geth we run into."

_We luckily got Garrus and Wrex into the gang, so I was going to be damned if we didn't recruit Tali too._

"...I'll leave it up to the Captain." She turned her gaze toward him.

"If what Shield said was true, we could definitely use someone of your expertise."

"Thanks. You won't regret this!" Tali chirped.

With Udina finishing his address to Shepard and leaving the room with Anderson, we were left among ourselves.

And Shepard went to work.

"Turian, Williams, I want you both to catch up to Anderson and the Ambassador."

"Uh, you can just call me Garrus Commander," the 'Turian' replied.

The Chief voiced her concern. "Why?"

Ashley had me asking the same thing.

"Because Saren already tried attacking us once in front of Chora's Den and then later in that alleyway. With us getting the information we needed-"

"Say no more Commander."

They left to catch up with them.

"Tali, you'll obviously be a target too so I don't want you out of my sight."

"Of course," she replied.

"The rest of you, stop waiting around and get a move on. I want to get this over with."

_And that makes two of us._

Shepard, Kaidan, Tali, and I wedged ourselves all back into a sky car again to get to the Tower.

I personally found the ride long, silent and awkward. But once we arrived at the top of the Tower, Tali couldn't hide her excitement.

"Wow...I'd never thought I'd get to see the Citadel Tower," the girl gasped in wonder.

"Yeah, it usually takes seven months to get a meeting here for us regular folk," I remarked.

"That's what the Citadel's VI told me."

We weaved our way through the same obstacles as before, eventually reaching the steps of the Council Chamber. Anderson was waiting at the top for us once again, only this time he had Vakarian and Williams beside him.

"Come on. Udina's presenting the Quarian's evidence to the Council."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Just for future reference, whenever you see line breaks in the story, think POV change or time lapse. Perhaps even both!**

**Also, shout out to that one dude who reads this from the Ukraine!**

**And lastly...just so I know I'm not insane...did any one else see an ad for a ball gag on the main page...**

**In the Next Chapter: Saren's not sane? Shepard's a Spectre!? We don't have to pay?! **

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	8. Supra-Legal Soldier: Shepard the Spectre

"You wanted proof? There it is," Udina arrogantly remarked to the Council.

After hearing the evidence, the Council couldn't do anything except find Saren guilty of treason. I really wanted to them to find an apology for not originally believing in us too but alas, it wasn't to be. And as they all drawled on, I began to nod off again. Until the Asari Councilor mentioned Benezia's name that is.

"Told ya," I quickly whispered to Shepard. Luckily, that didn't draw her ire as she purposefully ignored me.

_And everything has gone swimmingly. I recruited Garrus without trouble, Shepard found Wrex, and we rescued Tali before she was killed by Saren's men. And with all that, we found the evidence we needed to nail Saren. Not bad for a day's work Shield. Not bad._

Shepard suddenly raised her voice, and I cringed thinking it was directed at me.

"I tried to warn you about Saren, and you refused to face the truth. Don't make the same mistake again!"

"This is different. You proved Saren betrayed the Council. We all agree he's using the Geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't really know why." The Asari Councilor always seemed to be the one to break it to us nice and gentle.

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth, Commander. A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the Geth to his will."

_But you on the other hand...what an ass. Talking to us like we're idiots. You have no idea what's coming Palaven's way in just the next few years...everyone's way..._

I felt a fire well inside me. I felt my face flush with anger. Any desire I might have had to just sit back and keep my mouth shut while the trial ran its course washed away.

"That makes absolutely no sense," I said raising my voice. "You're telling me out of all the people that have gone into Geth space, Saren was the only one who wasn't killed on sight? Not only is he not killed but he convinces the Geth to _follow_ him instead? And he does all of this by claiming to be able to resurrect the gods they worship? Gods he should know nothing about?!"

The flaw in their logic gave them a shorter pause than I had hoped.

"Saren could have found a tool to physically subvert the Geth to his cause as well. This Conduit could be related to whatever helped him achieve this. The claim of fifty thousand year old machines eradicating all organic life is simply preposterous."

_You ass...well, I tried. _

I opted to take Shepard's stance of glaring at the Turian Councilor after his response. She then took the wheel from there.

"Fifty thousand years ago, the Reapers DID wipe out all galactic civilization. If Saren finds the Conduit, it WILL happen again!"

I wished Shepard's persuasiveness was directly proportional with her rage. Because the Council just ended up writing her off again.

"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer has the rights or resources of a Spectre. The Council has stripped him of his position."

"That is not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send YOUR FLEET IN!"

I had to admit, Udina was a really good representative for Humanity.

_Dude has passion for his work._

"A fleet cannot track down one man," the Salarian Councilor replied, again being the voice of reason.

_But a fleet would save us a lot of heartache...Virmire would never happen if they did. Hell, the Salarian STG calls you guys for exactly that!_

"A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the Geth from attacking any more of our colonies."

_A Good counterpoint._

I had to say, I loved a good debate.

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems! We won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen Human colonies," the Turian councilor replied callously.

_War? _

They were literally just gangsters and pirates. I'm pretty sure none of the gangs of Omega had anything a professional military had to worry about it. Let alone anything that could even remotely take on a dreadnought. And it's not like the slavers of Terminus space don't attack your colonies already on the reg...

_I guess wars in general are bad though. Especially when they should be saving their strength for the real enemy._

"Every time Humanity asks for help you ignore us!"

The back and forth was getting heated now.

"Shepard's right! I'm sick of this Council and its anti-Human BULL-"

I wondered if this was the moment when Udina first entertained the idea of betraying the entire Council to Cerberus. I had almost forgotten why I had hated the character so much with how he'd been arguing our case.

"Ambassador!" the Asari councilor cut him off. "There is another solution. A way to stop Saren that does not require fleets or armies."

_Oh boy. Here it comes._

"No it's too soon," the Turian councilor pouted. "Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres!"

Udina seemed to do a face heel at the mention of the word. He was practically bouncing up and down now with giddiness.

"It was a TURIAN Spectre who betrayed this Council. And it was a Human who exposed him. I've earned this!"

_Shepard sounded a little entitled there. But that's none of my business._

The Asari and Salarian councilors looked at the Turian and nodded toward us. He looked down shaking his head.

_And dats. right. bitch._

They all clicked something on their terminals.

"Commander Shepard, step forward."

Anderson gave Shepard a small smile before she walked toward the end of the walkway. Udina stepped out of her way as she did. And I noticed a crowd starting to gather along the sides of the Council Chamber.

_...Wait. Are matters of galactic importance just open to the public? If everything is public, wouldn't the identity of every Spectre ever inducted be common knowledge?_

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

_Whatever._

"Spectres are not trained but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle. Those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

I wished I could listen to ME's bg while this was going on. Although the ceremony is impressive, it didn't quite have the same hype without it...

"Spectres bear a great burden-"

_Yeah, dealing with you._

"-they are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first Human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your species."

"I've been ready for this since Eden Prime," Shepard countered.

_I guess the least thing you could say about Shepard was that she wasn't lacking for self-confidence._

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"I'll find him," Shepard said with a fire in her eyes.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned."

_Thank god because the novelty of it has already worn off._

The Council members disbanded, leaving their podiums. Our little group did the opposite.

"Congratulations Commander."

Anderson outstretched his hand to Shepard. She shook it. Udina then tried to get her attention.

"We got a lot of work to do, Shepard. You're going to need a ship, a crew, supplies..." he said tapering off in thought.

Anderson decided to give us something useful. "You'll get access to special equipment and training now. You should go down to the C-Sec Academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer."

_Yeah, where we'll get to BUY your special Spectre equipment and supplies! Yaaaay!_

"Anderson, come with me," Udina snapped. "I'll need your help to set all this up."

The duo walked away, already talking about their plans.

"I thought the Ambassador would be a little more grateful," Nar Rayya meekly said. "He didn't even thank you."

"What do you expect from a politician," Shepard deadpanned. "Come on."

_When did Shepard get jokes._

"Right behind you Shepard," Vakarian replied.

She turned to the C-Sec agent. She looked like she was sizing him up for the first time.

"You're a Turian. Why did you help us bring Saren down?"

_Ohhhhhkay. Not this again._

His mandibles flared before he stated his case.

"I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation. But I knew what was really going on. And my instincts were right! Saren's a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people. I want to help you take him down Commander."

"You want to join our crew?" she asked incredulously.

"Without a doubt."

"You'd have to leave your job here at C-Sec."

"Having to leave C-Sec to help a Spectre chase down a rogue agent? I'd take that any day," Garrus replied.

She stared at him for a long time.

"...You can come along...but I will be watching you."

As Shepard and Vakarian were making nice, I breathed a sigh of relief.

_Got everyone aboard...I hope._

Wrex was still missing after he had split up from us.

"So where we headed?" asked Williams.

"We're heading to that requisitions office the Captain mentioned. We're going to need the best gear available to hunt Saren down."

I doubt Shepard had enough credits to even purchase a license but I decided to follow her back to the elevators anyway. And as Shepard walked ahead with Alenko and Williams hot on her tail, I found myself stopping as I heard a guy to my left.

"I hope he's okay," he was muttering to himself. Then he noticed me standing in front of him. "I'm on a break. Talk to someone else if you need anything. I've got a lot on my mind."

_Side mission?_

"What's up? If you have a problem, I might be able to help." I told him.

"What? You...hmmm...maybe you can. You're Alliance, right? You ever head out to the Traverse?"

"Yeah, I think we'll be headed that way," I replied casually. Although I was still trying to figure out why he thought I was a Alliance soldier.

"Really? My brother's the captain of a ship called the Majesty-"

_Haha, what kind of pansy ass ship name is that?_

"-and it was crossing the Traverse a few days ago when it disappeared. Just dropped right off the grid."

_Oh._

My face darkened.

I remembered this mission now. I already knew what happened to him. And I don't think Shepard would take time out of our busy schedule to follow up on one missing freighter.

"That usually means one of two things: they had massive mechanical failure, or they were attacked," the man guessed.

"Neither of those leaves a lot of hope," Garrus said grimly behind me, apparently having stayed behind too.

"I won't give up on my brother. Not yet. I've got the coordinates from the last transmission from his vessel. I'll forward them to your ship right away. Can you let me know as soon as you find him?"

I felt a tear well in my eye as he talked.

'_I won't give up on my brother'...dammit...I have to tell him don't I?_

_...fuck._

"I'm sorry sir...but the MSV Majesty was found by a...Turian scout ship a short while ago. Upon investigating, they deduced that it had been attacked by pirates."

"...What? Are you sure?! Were there any survivors?!" he asked in alarm.

"They went to investigate the planet that the ship was orbiting and found their base of operations. They identified several bodies among the dead. The captain and crew of the ship were among them."

"...no...that can't...you...how do you know this?!"

"I'm sorry sir. If you wish to know more, talk to Barla Von. I'm sure he can provide proof that your brother was among the deceased...I...I'm sorry..."

"No..." he mumbled. "...excuse me..." He rushed off before I could say anything else.

I tried not to think about how many circumstances like this we would come across.

Losing a loved one is never easy.

Looking ahead now, it seemed Shepard and her group had already taken a lift down.

"That was...unfortunate," Vakarian said quietly, still beside me. "How did you know what happened to them?"

_And what do I say to that._

I just decided to keep it cryptic. "I know a lot of things. Information just happens to be my strong suit," I simply replied solemnly. Then I walked ahead without another word. Nar Rayya and Vakarian quickly followed me into the elevator, and I pressed the button to start our descent. We had gone halfway down in silence before Tali broke the ice.

"Are you sure you won't regret leaving Citadel Security to pursue Saren, Garrus?"

Looking over my shoulder, I could see him looking at her like she was insane.

"Fighting a rogue Spectre with countless lives at stake and no regulations to get in the way? I'd say that beats C-Sec."

It was hard to read Tali's expression with her wearing that mask.

"I'm pleased that the imminent destruction of all organic life has improved your career opportunities."

I had to laugh at that one. Vakarian didn't look as thrilled with her sass. So he decided to turn the conversation to me.

"Hmph. So...what's your story? How do you know the Commander? Did you serve in her unit?"

"Oh, you know, I don't think I ever introduced myself back in the Wards. The name's Shield. Nice to meet you both," I said turning around to face them.

Garrus' question though had me wondering why everyone kept thinking I was an Alliance soldier. I then realized my uniform probably didn't help.

_I guess I can put getting new armor on my list of things to do._

"I actually know Shepard as well as you two do," I said, which was relatively true. "I helped her back on Eden Prime with Williams and ended up hitching a ride on their ship. I knew Saren was involved with the attack so they ended up bringing me along as a witness to his trial too."

"Really?! I would have killed to have known there was a first hand witness of Saren going rogue. I'm sorry my investigation didn't produce any results," Garrus also added apologetically.

"Hey don't worry about it. I don't think they would have listened the first time even if you had."

"Maybe...but I have to say. You're lucky. In all my time at C-Sec, I've never witnessed a Council meeting in person before now."

"Eh, it wasn't all that," I said nonchalantly. "And despite the setback, it seemed to work out for the best in the end," I continued. "We exposed Saren for the traitor he is, got some allies in the process, and are one step closer now to kicking his ass."

"True. Have to say I'm looking forward to it," Garrus said grinning. Or the Turian equivalent at least.

Tali hung her head a little.

"I just wish the Council had listened to us back when the Geth forced us off our home planet. When we petitioned them to wipe out the Geth three hundred years ago, they did nothing."

"Maybe if they had, we wouldn't be in this mess," I quietly replied.

"...maybe."

Then she tilted her head, looking like she had just remembered something.

"Hey. Shield? Do you remember when we first met in the alley? How _did_ you know my name?"

Oh. I had totally forgotten about that. And in fear, I decided to drown her with my omniscience.

"Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya. A Quarian with close relationships to three members of the Admiralty Board. Currently on her pilgrimage. Ran into trouble when Saren sent a Turian mercenary after her. Presumed to have information vital to the Spectre."

I imagined her draw was dropping inside her helmet.

"How-"

"I work for the Shadow Broker. I know a lot of things I probably shouldn't."

"You work for the Broker?!" she exclaimed.

I realized she probably didn't have the best experience with him after all she'd been through.

"Oh yeah...by the way, sorry about all that. Fist betrayed the Broker for Saren. I sincerely apologize for the fact that he put you in harm's way. Doesn't really help our reputation or business."

_I'm also going to leave out the fact that the Broker actually might have been responsible for the hit too._

I never had been sure if he did or not. I remember from reading his dossiers that the Broker told Fist to kill Tali after he had her information. And Fist was going to too, but I guess he just decided to do it for Saren instead? I mean why else would Wrex have been hired if Fist was following instructions?

_Writing mistake? Who knows._

I returned to the company at hand when Garrus spoke next.

"You recognized her as soon as we entered the alley. Did you recall all that information off the top of your head?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I said tapping my noggin. "Photographic memory."

It left my mouth before I had time to think.

_Oh fuck me._

"Impressive," Garrus remarked. "That'd sure be useful to have as an agent for C-Sec. Or any career I suppose."

"I find it's a little selective though," I covered up. "Memorize a lot of information I get. But small things I encounter day-to-day? Not so much."

"Still, must be useful."

After saying that, the elevator reached our destination. As we exited the elevator and walked out onto the Presidium, I could see Shepard and her group farther ahead...talking to a Turian and a large Hanar. And in our approach, it sounded like the alien was getting its ass handed to it by Shepard.

"-you BIG, STUPID, JELLY FISH."

The giant glowing man of war backed off. And the way its tentacles moved backwards was hypnotic. All of them seemed perfectly synchronized.

"This one apologizes. It will depart now, and will not intrude on the Presidium again."

_Poor thing. Must've been bashed pretty hard. With how polite they are, god knows how the words coming from Shepard's mouth affected its poor sensibilities-_

"I see the Hanar has left. Thank you," the C-Sec agent replied after she had finished.

"Happy to help," she said with sarcasm.

"...for your assistance in the manner."

He handed Shepard some capsuled omni-gel and credits.

"Took you long enough," she replied finally noticing our approach.

From there, it was just a relatively short walk to C-Sec HQ. And Garrus led us on since he knew the way.

* * *

Upon exiting the elevator, the first thing we saw was Wrex.

And really looking at him for the first time, it dawned on me how fucking monstrous the Krogan were.

_Like holy shit. _

He had to be _at least_ eight feet tall. And that's being conservative. From what I could tell, the hump protruding from his back itself was literally half my size and the mahogany carapace on his head matched its height too. His skin looked like leather and his blood red eyes only added to his intimidation factor. They weren't as frightening as Shepard's but still-

_And the scars on his face just makes him look like an all around bad ass._

I was quite jealous to be honest.

"Hey Shepard, I turned in Fist for my bounty. And after that fight we had, I've decided I want to join your group," he growled in a deep gravelly tone.

"...what?"

Apparently Shepard hadn't actually recruited him yet either.

_Damn._

"There's a storm coming Commander. With you and Saren right in the middle of it. And I want to be there for when it arrives."

She took a second to think it over.

"You know what. Whatever. We already have the Quarian and Turian coming along with us. One more alien couldn't hurt."

"Uh...are you sure we should bring him along Commander?" Williams said eyeing the Krogan.

"What? Afraid you're going to fall for my good looks?" Wrex mocked.

Shepard defended him...or rather what she had said. "Williams, are you questioning my decision?"

"What? No Commander! I'm just-"

"Then it's decided. Garrus, can you show us where that Requisitions Office is?"

Garrus responded with a "This way" and led us all downstairs to the armory.

It was a relatively small room. The first thing you saw was the requisitions officer behind his desk. Then the weapon displays and armor lining its walls came into view. I saw the door behind to his right last. And I hadn't recalled that being there in the game.

"One sec, looking you up," the officer replied, continuing to tap away at his computer.

Shepard shifted impatiently. Kaidan and Williams were behind her taking stock of the place. Wrex and Tali were already admiring the shotguns on display. And Garrus apparently had his eyes on a sniper rifle. I decided out of all of them, he'd be the easiest to approach.

He noticed said approach.

"The Armax Arsenal's Punisher series. I always wanted one of these," Garrus told me, putting his hand against the case's glass. "Maximum stopping power with minimum recoil." To be honest, the guy was practically drooling.

"Why don't you get one?" I said asking the obvious.

Garrus seemed to entertain the idea.

"Could never justify purchasing it. Would take a several month's pay...with installments."

_Now I know what to get someone for their birthdayyyy~_

"Well...it's not like you'll need credits to pay for rent or food on the Normandy."

"True."

He continued to stare at it.

"-Just let me set you up."

I turned back around in Shepard's direction. The Turian servicing her had a look of confusion on his face.

I had to say I was getting better at reading their facial expressions. Or at least I thought I was.

"This...this must be a mistake. System's telling me to offer you our select stock. Spectre." He looked up again and it seemed that the realization had finally hit him. "Well...I'd heard about that, but I didn't realize it was you. Sorry, Commander."

"Just show me what you have."

"I'll open the rare stocks for you Commander. You'll enjoy this." He walked away from his console and unlocked the door behind him. He motioned for Shepard to follow him. Williams tried to weasel her way in after them but he made a motion for her to stop. "Sorry, authorized access only."

Williams raised her hands up, backing off in response.

By the time Shepard exited the back room, Wrex was already starting to get rowdy, trying to bait Garrus into a debate about the Genophage. And pretty close to getting him to too. What was really shocking at the moment however was that she walked out of the room with the entire assortment of HMW spec weapons on her back. And my jaw dropped.

"How...how the hell did you afford all that?" I blurted.

She looked at me like I was stupid.

"They came with becoming a Spectre," she replied in a cold tone.

The officer walked out after her, locking the door behind him. "You are from now on authorized to buy and distribute the Spectre class weapons to any you deem to choose...but the surplus weapons come at a hefty price."

"Noted," she said.

I couldn't contain my shock.

_Why...Why the hell did she get that shit for free?_

I always had wished you had gotten them for that in the game.

_It made sense for Spectres to get the guns made specifically for Spectres but-_

A thought hit my mind.

_I had always Wished..._

The after thought became a fully-fleshed out theory wrapped in tinfoil. I clenched my fist and opened it.

_This is crazy...but, then again...I guess what the hell is all this?_

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.

I flexed every muscle in my body.

I brought my right hand up and curled my fingers, focusing all my thoughts on my fist.

_Channel it, think it, want it. Dark energy, defy gravity, feel it flow through you...lift an object with your mind...let the force guide you..._

I opened my eyes and made a dramatic pushing motion at the officer with my hand.

He continued to stand where he was, talking with the Commander.

Luckily Tali was the only one who had seen it.

"Uh-"

"Just stretching," I lied as I quickly pulled my right hand over my head.

She didn't know Human custom well enough to dispute what she had seen.

"Oh...okay."

_...well. So much for that theory._

In addition to Shepard's 'purchase', Wrex settled for getting some weapon mods and Alenko bought kinetic buffers for his suit. Whatever the hell those were. The rest of us though decided we didn't want anything. That and we probably didn't have enough money to get what we did.

As we followed her out of the room, Shepard contacted Anderson next. "Captain, we got what we needed. Are we ready to depart?"

"Not yet Commander. We need a couple more hours to sort the details out. Take some time off. Explore some of the facilities the Citadel has to offer. We'll call you when we figure everything out."

Shepard noticeably frowned as she took her hand off her earpiece.

"Do they really expect us to sit around for a couple of hours?"

"Actually," Garrus piped up. "Think I could take leave Commander? I was going to just send a message but if we have time, I'd like to put my resignation in personally with my boss."

"Go ahead. Just be here when it's time to leave or you'll find yourself left behind."

"Noted Commander."

_Speaking of things to do._

"Hey Commander...you wouldn't have happened to come across any data files or an OSD when you dealt with Fist did you?"

"Actually," she said unclipping one from her belt and holding it up. "Why do you ask?" She stared at me like I had something to hide.

"Uh, Barla Von wanted that as payment for telling us about the Krogan."

"Are you sure _Barla Von_ wants this information?" She turned to Kaidan. "Is this true?"

"Yes Commander," Kaidan affirmed.

"Then I'll take it to him myself," she said. "Go find something to do until we get back."

"Alright, will do," I replied with attitude.

_Well, while we're getting stuff out of the way..._

I turned to the Chief. "Also, Williams. I think someone was looking for you at the Embassies. He said he knew someone from the 212."

"What? Who?" she barked.

"Does a Nirali Bhatia sound familiar to you?"

She looked at the Commander.

"We'll take a look at it." Shepard looked back to me. "Stay out of trouble."

Then she seemed to have second thoughts. "Actually, Alenko, I want you to keep an eye on him again. Make sure he doesn't do anything he might regret."

"...Of course Commander!"

_Sigh. Really? Do I need a babysitter?_

She then left with the rest of the crew in tow. And so I turned to stare at Kaidan as we were left alone together. Again.

"...So...want to go shopping?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**In the Next Chapter: A Nice stroll through the Citadel; But suddenly: Blackmailers! Murder! Back-room politics!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made.**


	9. Our Ship Sets into Space

We ended up walking through the markets of whatever Ward the first game took place in. We passed by the volus merchant Expat and the hilarious ME throwaway where a Human customer was trying to return something to a racist-

_Or was it speciest?_

-Turian shopkeeper. I decided I might even try to help the poor guy out in the future if I ever got the chance. Because two years from now, the guy was still apparently trying to get that damn refund. And hell, we might have even passed Conrad Verner on our way downstairs too, though I hadn't been sure. There were a lot of white guys in the markets.

Once we were particularly in the Lower Markets, I sat myself up on a pile of crates across from Morlan's shop.

"What are we doing here?" Kaidan finally asked as he realized I was done window shopping.

"Just admiring the sights," I replied scanning the floor.

_He should be here...unless we missed him._

I looked at the crowd shuffling through the area for several more minutes before Kaidan piped up again.

"...am I supposed to be looking for someone?" he queried.

I waited a while to respond.

"I guess not..." I replied, frowning as I hopped off my crate. "Follow me."

I now walked up to Morlan's booth, which was curiously being ignored by a lot of people.

"Hello there. Welcome to Morlan's famous shop! You want many good supplies yes?" the Salarian said eagerly.

I eyed the amphibian suspiciously. "You wouldn't happen to remember talking to a Turian recently would you?"

"A...Turian? No..I didn't talk to any-Why? Why do you ask?"

"Thanks," I said walking away from him.

"What was that aboot?" the Canadian now asked me.

I was just about to answer him when I suddenly found exactly who we were looking for. The man had just walked down from the way we had come in.

And so, I decided to yell out to him. "Vakarian! Long time no see!"

He returned a shocked look before gathering himself and approaching.

"Shield. Lieutenant. What are you two doing down here?" he questioned when we got into earshot.

"I was actually asking the same thing," Kaidan replied.

I couldn't help it as a sly grin came across my face. "I thought you might come down here. For that shop keeper Dr. Michel mentioned. I said we'd help you with that didn't I?"

I couldn't quite read the expression the Turian had on his face.

But he seemed...concerned?

"How'd you know the merchant blackmailing her was down here?" Garrus asked.

"The shadiest shop keeps are here in the Lower Markets. Thought the one you were looking for probably was too," I said lying through my teeth.

"I guess some back-up never hurt." He looked around. "Where's Shepard?"

"She's taking care of some other business," Kaidan told him this time.

"...well." He turned his head towards Morlan. "Let's not keep him waiting."

Garrus took the lead as we walked back to Morlan's booth. The Salarian didn't look as pleased to see us this time.

"I heard you were looking for a delivery of medical supplies," Garrus said when the Salarian didn't acknowledge us, additionally looking around, albeit shiftily.

"But...I was told the doctor would be bringing them," Morlan replied, wiping his forehead.

"Change of plans," Garrus bluntly told him.

"A change? But...the doctor...I'don't...this is not right Turian," he started chattering.

"Shut up Morlan! I told Banes you'd screw this up!"

We all looked to the voice in alarm. The Krogan wasn't as big as Wrex but...

_I can't imagine who in their right mind would willingly fight one. I mean...oh shit. I realllllly hope we can talk him down-_

"What the hell is going on here? Who are you?"

"Why don't you leave the good doctor alone?" Garrus 'asked'.

"We can end this if you just bring me those supplies. Otherwise, I'll start telling people about the doctor's little secret."

In the face of quite likely death, I channeled my inner Shepard in an attempt to settle things before we all got hurt. Which we assuredly would.

"If you do that, you'll shut down that clinic," I pointed out. "What if someone needs help?...What if you need help?"

I recited the line to the best of my memory. And I had to say, my grizzled voice made it sound pretty threatening.

"Hey! Hold on there! I'm just a middleman."

I breathed a sigh of relief as he did. As intimidating as he looked, he was just a coward. Luckily for us that is.

"This is way more than I bargained for," the Krogan said last before high tailing it away.

_Thank god._

"Thank you Human," Morlan said popping out from under his counter. "It is good to see him humbled so."

"What do you know about Banes?" Garrus interrogated.

"I never met him Turian. I only worked with the one who spoke with the Doctor."

"Then I guess we should inform the Dr. Michel on what happened here," I told Garrus.

"Yeah, she might be able to tell us more about Banes," Kaidan added.

* * *

**Moments Later.**

"Oh, Garrus. How did things go?" Dr. Michel asked upon our arrival.

"With Fist? Pretty good. We found the Quarian and she agreed to help us with our investigation. We also happened to come across your blackmailer Doctor. He won't be bothering you anymore either."

"Really?! Oh, that's such a relief to hear," she said quite clearly happy. "I can't pay you for your help but I _can_ give you a discount on any supplies you purchase here."

"Oh, that's not necessary," Garrus tried to tell her.

"Nonsense. You've helped me so much. It's the least I can do!"

"Well in that case, thanks Doctor!" I said cheerfully.

_A discount here will definitely score us some points with the boss-_

"Dr. Michel, does the name Banes mean anything to you?" Kaidan asked.

"Banes? Do you mean Armistan Banes? I worked together with a man by that name a long time ago."

_Wait, long time ago?...How old is this chick?_

"What do you know about him?" Garrus questioned.

"Last I heard, the Alliance Military was contracting him for some research in the Traverse."

"The Captain might know something about that," Kaidan interjected.

"I wish I could tell you more..." she trailed off.

"Don't worry about it Doc. I know where to go from here," I replied.

"Do you?" Kaidan asked incredulously.

_Anderson's too busy getting our arrangements for us to go bother him right now. _

And since I already knew what the next step was, there was no need to go running all across the Citadel.

"I realized who Banes was when the Dr. Michel gave us his full name. He was contracted for work on an Alliance research ship. Unfortunately, the Alliance recently found that ship drifting in space. And Banes was found inside...dead," I finished while looking at Dr. Michel. I had realized too late that she probably didn't need to hear that.

"That's horrible," the Dr. Michel said horrified.

"That Krogan seemed to think he was very much alive," Garrus pointed out.

"The dude was apparently doing high level stuff for the Alliance. The news of his death isn't exactly public. Someone might have stolen his name to get this equipment. Someone who must have had high enough clearance to know that." I thought of a way to segue to where we needed to go. "I was actually supposed to look into it for the Broker. Apparently the marines under the command of an Admiral Kahoku were the ones to find it. I actually overheard from someone that the Admiral's been trying to get an appointment at the Citadel Tower."

"Sounds as good a place as any to start," Garrus concluded.

I turned to Kaidan and asked if he was in.

"Well, Shepard did order me to watch you," he said.

"Well Then. It's decided," I said.

* * *

**Several Moments Later.**

In the elevator ride up the tower, our conversation was mostly about how we had taken care of those thugs in the Doctor's office and alleyway. And there was quite a large amount of back patting going around.

"I have to say, your biotics are impressive, Lieutenant," Garrus complimented Kaidan. "I'm surprised that humans stopped using the L2 configuration with results like yours."

"Hey, my headaches can be pretty bad, and I'm one of the lucky L2 implants. The L3's are a lot safer," Kaidan replied in turn.

"If that was true, why don't you get retrofitted?" I asked next.

_Now's as good as any to get his sad, sad childhood backstory of being a Biotic and his time at BAaT training camp._

"The retrofits from L2 to L3 can be dangerous. Few people come away from those unscarred. My migraines are bad but I'd rather have them then become a paraplegic."

"Fair enough," I commented.

"But why change at all when the L2's spike stronger? Humanity will be judged by the sacrifices its people are willing to make. The Turians would have kept the L2 implants," Vakarian remarked solemnly.

"There's a fine line though between self-sacrifice and unnecessary hardship. Not every one needs to have the biotic capabilities of an Asari," Kaidan bit back.

"If you want the people you care about to live in safety and comfort, sometimes you have to sacrifice your own," Garrus replied sagely.

Both had good points. But thankfully, they didn't have time to continue their debate as the doors of the elevator slid open.

And the beautiful scenery of the Tower's interior erupted into view.

We had actually walked a good amount, maneuvering around a lot of boulders and ducking under the intermittent, low hanging branches of the trees everywhere before our group came to a stop. Or specifically, me. In fact, they were wondering why I had suddenly just frozen in place. And I couldn't find my breath to respond as I stared at the giant ass bug in front of me for the very first time.

The creature was busy tapping away at a console attached to one of the Chamber's pillars. It had a cute little rose bib around its neck, which greatly contrasted with the green monstrosity it was being worn by. The head and body of a man-sized caterpillar sprouted from the neck of what seemed to be some kind of Lovecraftian nightmare. And I tried to stay the horror that crept across my face, with tried being the key word.

Garrus finally seemed to notice the reason for my pause. "First time noticing the Keepers huh?"

I just stood in place, making sure I didn't make any sudden moves.

_I can see how they were created by the Reapers. No other sick, twisted, depraved-_

"Not many people actually see them when they first arrive. They're so unimposing, most go by unnoticed. When you do see your first however, you start to see them just about everywhere."

_Unimposing my ass! That thing'__s the product of Satan. But Garrus was right. There was no way we hadn't run across ANY back in the Presidium or Wards-_

"But after a while, they just kind of slip right back into obscurity. Blend into your daily routine. They're completely harmless though. Worst thing they might do is rearrange your desk. They're notorious for that," Garrus continued.

_I can't believe I hadn't noticed these monsters. Horrors walking around in plain sight. The Reapers had picked the perfect thralls to attend to their doomsday device. Dah bastahds-_

"What do they actually do?" Kaidan asked curiously.

"Their believed to be made by the Protheans for the sole purpose of maintaining the Citadel. Probably always have," Garrus responded.

I realized that we didn't have time for this. Bravely overcoming my paralysis, I finally forced my legs to move, and I circled around it, making sure to give the abomination a wide berth. Once we passed the Keeper and continued on, Kaidan was the one to spot the Admiral. He was near the staircase leading to the Council Chambers, dressed head to toe in Alliance uniform. A blue overcoat, blue shoulder pads, blue cap, the whole shebang.

"Admiral Kahoku?" Kaidan was the one to ask once we got close enough.

"That would be me," he responded, turning away from his console. Kaidan gave him a salute in turn. Kahoku mimicked it. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We're here on behalf of Commander Shepard. Your men were the one who found Banes am I correct?" I asked him.

He seemed to take pause. I could tell he was already sizing us up. The fact that a C-Sec agent and two 'marines' were the ones asking him about this top secret case though were enough to placate his suspicions.

"...Yes, one of my crews found him. Frozen stiff on board a derelict vessel. I sent a recon group to investigate the system where we found the body," he told us. Then his face grew grave. "But we lost contact yesterday. Now I can't get clearance to check it out...suddenly it's a restricted area! But if you are with Shepard, that doesn't apply to her. Spectres can go anywhere they want. You could find out why my team dropped out of contact."

"We'll find them Admiral," Alenko assured him.

"I appreciate that soldier. I was running out of options. I'm going to stay here and see if I can find anything out through official channels. Won't hold my breath though."

"We'll get back to you as soon as we find them," I said. He nodded and turned back toward his console.

"I'll upload the info where my team was last seen to your omni-tool. Maybe YOU can get some answers."

I wanted to tell him then and there about what happened to his soldiers. Tell him about Cerberus. Tell him to just drop everything and let it go. Tell him to hide. I know I could have. But I didn't. I just turned and walked away with the others. I couldn't see how I could address the issue without seeming sketchy...

So I was going to just let him die.

_Fuck._

Because I was too concerned with my own hide.

_We need to go back._

"Dead scientist. Missing marines. Restricted area. This whole thing smells fishy," Garrus said.

"Yeah, I don't like it either," Kaidan agreed.

_No. There'll be other opportunities to save him. Giving Shepard the info on this mission will prove your part of the team._

So...I just decided to voice aloud my own opinion to the group. "We should probably tell the Commander about it."

_Great contribution._

"Agreed. Think it's about time we all met back up?" Kaidan pondered.

"I think she would give us a call if she was ready," I assured him. Then, in a stroke of brilliance, I thought of something to keep us occupied. "...you guys ever been to Flux?"

* * *

**Even More Moments Later.**

"I got big news for you Shepard. Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now."

The news hit her like a punch to the gut. She looked to Anderson in disbelief.

"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well Commander."

His complacency with this boggled her mind.

"What? The Normandy belongs to you!" she found herself protesting hotly. There was no way-

But Anderson simply replied with a matter of fact tone. "You needed your own ship. A Spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council. And it's time for me to step down."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

_It can't be tru_e_. There's no way in hell you'd willingly take yourself out of a fight._

"Come clean with me, Captain. You owe me that much," she decided to force her hand and pry.

Closing his eyes, he turned toward the Normandy and spoke.

"I was in your shoes twenty years ago, Shepard. They were once considering me for the Spectres."

_That degenerate at the club...he couldn't have been telling the truth-_

"But I failed. I couldn't make the cut. It's not something I'm proud of," he said now staring at her. "Ask me later and I'll tell you the whole story. For now, all you need to know is I was sent on a mission with Saren, and he made sure the Council rejected me." She could clearly see the regret in his eyes. And she had some in hers too. In all her years of knowing him, she had never heard of this. Not even once. "I had my shot. It came and went. Now you have a chance to make up for my mistakes."

She clenched her fists.

_And Saren was to blame. Everything always came back to Saren didn't it?_

"Saren's not going to get away with this. Not this time," she growled.

Anderson frowned at her. "Saren's gone. Don't even try to find him. But we know what he's after: the Conduit. He's got his Geth scouring the Traverse looking for clues."

The Ambassador pushed his way back into the conversation. "We've had reports of Geth in the Attican Beta shortly before our scouts there dropped out of contact. And there have been sightings in the Horse Head Nebula as well."

"Find out what Saren was after in the Attican Beta and Horse Head. Maybe you can figure out where the Conduit is before he does," Anderson briefed her.

"Anything else?" she asked, trying to grasp everything she had just heard.

"We have one more lead. Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on that recording. She has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in the Protheans."

Shepard was sure it wasn't a coincidence.

_Saren and Benezia must have been planning this for a long time._

"We don't know if she's involved but it might be a good idea to try and find her. See what she knows. Her name's Liara. Dr. Liara T'Soni. We have reports she was exploring an archaeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau Cluster," Udina finished.

Shield interrupted their conversation. "Hey! You know one of those experts I had mentioned worked on Therum? I'm pretty sure Dr. T'Soni was one of them. We should definitely stop there first. An expert on the Protheans would definitely be helpful in finding the Conduit. I'm sure of it!"

_Shield just suggested we find the daughter of one of Saren's allies. A woman who also just happened to be studying the Protheans. The race that created the Conduit that Saren and we are now searching for. _

It was so sickeningly obvious.

The fact that the Krogan mercenary who joined their group was connected with him through the Broker only further confirmed her suspicions. She just needed to wait for Fist's OSD to return to her decrypted from Alliance Command. She had a copy of it sent to them before fulfilling Shield's bargain with the Volus. The data on that disk would be the evidence she needed to prove that Saren and the Broker could still be working together in fact. And Shield's claims along with the Broker hiring Wrex could have just been a ruse to cover their partnership. She fully expected the two to already betray her at some point in their mission. And she decided to make it sooner rather than later.

She responded immediately after Shield had finished talking.

"Sounds like we should head for the Artemis Tau cluster," she said still facing Anderson and the Ambassador. She noticed Anderson was staring at Shield with an expression she couldn't quite place. But the Captain turned his attention back to her after she spoke.

"It's your decision Commander. You're a Spectre now. You don't answer to us."

She grimaced as the Captain said it.

"But your actions still reflect on Humanity as a whole. You make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up," Udina reminded her.

_I only have one thing to worry about cleaning up._

"I'll take care of Saren," Shepard said. "You can take care of the political fallout."

"Not exactly the answer I was looking for Shepard. Remember: you were a Human long before you were a Spectre."

_Remember...Remember I was a Human?! How dare you..._

Anger swelled inside her as she stared at him. She gritted her teeth to stop herself from doing something she might regret. She had been feeling much more on edge than she normally would in fact. It was starting to make her question how much the mission to Prime had affected her.

"I have a meeting to get to. Captain Anderson can answer any questions you might have," the Ambassador said, taking his leave.

She waited 'til he was out of earshot before addressing the Captain.

"You can't tell me you're just planning on staying here?!"

"Honestly? Yes, this isn't how I pictured my career coming to an end. Pushing papers isn't really my thing." She fully agreed. "But you're the only one who can stop Saren. I believe in you Shepard. If that means I have to step aside, so be it."

Her agreement with him ended there. This was his ship.

She just ended up muttering "I should go," when they were done talking.

Though she almost went blind with rage when she thought she heard Shield suppressing a snicker behind her.

_What the hell does he find so funny-_

"I'll be here on the station if you need anything," the Captain told them before saluting her and leaving for the elevator. She then turned around for a moment, watching the man leave for the dock. She wouldn't fail him. Not again.

She then turned to glare at Shield, daring him to laugh again.

* * *

**Somewhere in Time.**

The Geth ships were swarming towards the space station.

Joker counted no less than seven.

He'd be damned though if he let the Geth attack the Citadel and all the defenseless children aboard it.

He kicked the Normandy into high gear. Banking above them in the deep vacuum of space, Joker then pulled the Normandy into a nose dive upon the enemy fleet. The bastards didn't even know what hit them as the Normandy's prototype Javelin torpedoes rained down upon them from above. Only two cruisers were left after the onslaught. Clicking several buttons on his interface, he activated the Normandy's GARDIAN lasers just in time as he sped past the last two Geth ships under razor thin margins. Their hulls were torn to shreds due to their proximity to the Normandy, and they shot out through the debris, unimpeded. Joker was just about to celebrate before he looked back on his radar to find that they weren't yet done. A Geth dreadnought rivaling the Destiny Ascension had just dropped out of FTL. And it seemed to be dead set on destroying the station and all the helpless baby animals aboard it too.

"Oh...you want some more do you?" Joker whispered under his breath.

He disengaged the Normandy's stealth drive and piloted the ship right into the Geth's line of sight.

"Oh No!" the robots said in their robotic voices, frightened like school girls. School girl robots that is. "It's Joker!"

"Say hello to my little friend," Joker said with a grin as he activated the Normandy's mass accelerator. "Pew pew pew."

The dreadnought blew to smithereens. The explosion could be seen by everyone on the station. They all chanted his name as its vapor trails showered over the Presidium. The newly crowned Ms. Alliance came up behind him and laid her arms across his chest. "Wow Joker, you're too much man for me. I'm going to have to share you with the rest of the Alliance's lingerie cover girls," she whispered into his ear.

"Yeaaaah," Joker said kicking back in his chair, admiring his handiwork. Just another day's work for the Alliance's number one pilot.

He jumped as a feminine voice announced Shepard's arrival over the intercom.

"Logged. The Commanding Officer is aboard. XO Pressly stands relieved."

_Stupid VI._

Joker swiveled his chair around to face the Commander and the new members of the crew just now arriving. Udina had just left announcing the Normandy's newest assignment. And that the Commander would be the one overseeing it instead of the Captain. As if that wasn't shock enough, the make up of Shepard's shore party lent even more insanity to the day. The single file line of well trained soldiers he thought would exit the airlock turned out to be a weird parade of aliens instead.

His eyes practically bugged when he saw the Krogan enter the ships' bridge. He had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The behemoth was practically twice his size and had a look that said "I'll beat you to death with your own arm." The alien could snap him in half like a twig if he wanted to. Probably did. Although a trip to the shower could do the same to him too. The two made brief eye contact before the Krogan snorted and started trotting toward the ship's Command Center.

_Holy shi-_

Joker didn't have time to process the thought as the next person he saw walking aboard was a Turian.

_Oh man, where the hell is Shepard getting these guys?!_

He was wearing blue and black armor with a prominent headpiece covering his eye. Obviously C-Sec. He followed the Krogan's path down the neck of the ship. The absurdity didn't stop there as a Quarian walked out next, talking about Alliance Admirals or something with Shield. He had never seen one in person before and her suit left a lot to the imagination. Then Kaidan and Chief Williams exited, giving each other the stink eye. He didn't know what that was about and he didn't want to ask.

And Shepard was the last one out of the airlock. And she did not look happy.

_Probably didn't take the news well. She and the Captain have been pretty close. _

His blatant staring caught her eye, and in return, she started to approach. He slowly swiveled his chair back to his console.

"I heard what happened to Captain Anderson. Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by back room politics. Just watch your back Commander. Things go bad on this mission, you're next on their chopping block."

He had said it half in jest, but there might have been some truth to his words.

"Captain Anderson should be the one in charge. It's like I'm stealing the ship from him."

The news obviously had her down. But he tried his best to cheer her up. Had to live up to the name of course.

"Yeah the Captain got screwed. But it's not like you could've stopped it. Nobody's blaming you. Everyone on this ship is behind you, Commander. One hundred percent."

He looked down at the Normandy's controls and clicked a few buttons. A small square turned green in the left uppermost corner.

"Intercom's open. If you've got anything you want to say to the crew, now's the time," he told her.

She took almost no time leaning over him to speak into the comm.

"Listen up Normandy. This is your Commander speaking...and we have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit."

She paused for dramatic effect.

"And I refuse to let anything get in the way of that mission! We all know what happened on Eden Prime. We saw the destruction. We saw the bodies. We saw what Saren did. And I plan to make him pay! Wherever Saren goes, we'll follow. Wherever he searches for the Conduit, we'll be there. We will hunt him to the very ends of the galaxy and bring him down!"

The words left her mouth without a break. It was like she had practiced the thing the entire day.

"None of the other species has the guts, grit, or balls to deal with this. So it's up to us. We're the only ones who can stop Saren. And I swear to you all, we WILL stop him."

Her fiery oratory definitely had him feeling something.

_Patriotism. Duty. Or maybe it's just hunger. Probably a little of columns A, B, and C._

He _had_ skipped lunch today. Joker then looked up to Shepard once he realized she was finished.

"Good job Commander. You'd make him proud."

"The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance. We can't fail," she said already walking away.

"Yes ma'am!" he replied, flicking on the rest of the Normandy's primary systems. He undocked the Normandy from the bay's arms and brought the ship around. Joker suspected the dampeners might need a little tuning as he felt a kick with the ignition of the thrusters. Once it was fired up however, the Normandy's engines propelled them away from the space station at light speed, and closer towards the Relay.

The Hunt for Saren had begun.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**On that note, Thank God the Prologue is finally over! I had planned for Chapters '1'-10 to just be Act 0, laying the foundation for our story. I also had hoped to finish it before New Year's but Oh well **¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**With this we can officially move on to Act 1: The Throwdown on Therum!**

**Less standard ME dialogue. Less canned events. More twists, original content, and...things!**

**In the Next Chapter: Revelation. Convocation. ME-nation! The Normandy's First Assignment!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	10. Making the Most of it

My head throbbed as the shrill ringing of an alarm assaulted my eardrums. Too lazy to reach over and stop it, I could only toss and turn in my bed wishing it would shut it itself off. My woes were only worsened when I heard someone slam open my room's door.

"Dude, didn't you have a chemistry exam at nine?"

_What._

I flung off my covers and stared at my alarm clock.

_9:12 AM_

"Oh Shit! Are you fucking serious?!" I yelled flying out of bed. I threw on the first pair of jeans and shirt I found at the top of my laundry hamper. Kicked the garbage can that had been knocked over out of my way. And as I hopped to my back pack with one leg stuck in my pants, my roommate simply responded "Ooh, good luck."

I knocked him out of the way as I finally slung my back pack over my shoulder, and careened out of my room.

_Holyyy fuuuuuuck-_

As I ran down our corridor and into our living space, I stopped to see the rest of my roommates just chilling around the TV eating breakfast without a care in the world. I paused to see that they were watching the fourth season finale of Breaking Bad.

_Oh, such a good-I don't have fucking time for this-_

I immediately turned around and moved to put my hand around the door knob leading out of our suite. Then my mom yelled at me from the kitchen as I began to turn it. "You sure you don't want breakfast hon'?"

"MOM, DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE TIME FOR FOOD?!"

Without a second thought, I swung open the door and began sprinting down the driveway. And I ran for what felt like a mile before I realized I wasn't moving at all. Weirdly enough. I looked around me, only to find that I was now floating in space. Up-side down. Everything pitch-black.

I next noticed my back pack straps were gone.

"Where the hell did they go?" I asked myself while staring at my shoulders.

Then my head was blasted with a deafening scream.

I shut my eyes when the sound assaulted my ears, the unpleasant cacophony that came after it sounding like nails being dragged along a chalkboard. Immediately after I shut them, textures, shapes, images, pictures, scenes, worlds flitted by one after another. The incoherent chattering/screams of long forgotten races accompanied them. The chaotic nature of the message pervaded my brain, snaked through every thought. The sounds and images slithering through my head were too much, and I screamed in horror only to find no sound leaving my mouth.

A Blood Red backdrop, A Black world, then nothing.

I woke up with a loud shout.

"HEY! I'm trying to get some Sleep!"

I could make out the faint red tint of Fredricks crew cut across from me in the dark.

"Sorry," I mumbled a little too soft for him to hear several minutes later. The snoring coming from the bunk across from me though told me he had already fallen back asleep. Unfortunately, I couldn't do the same, as beads of sweat still dripped across my face.

It had only been a nightmare. But I could have sworn it was real.

I laid my head back on my pillow.

I thought it had been real.

_...Real life. _

I realized the dream was relatively 'realer' than anything around me. I'd only been in this nightmare for two days...but it's felt like it's already been an eternity with how much has happened to me.

_How much time has passed back home since I woke up here? Does time even pass the same? If it did, two days from Friday night would make it Sunday night. But just waking up now meant I had really started my third, which meant it Was Monday, the start of Finals week._

_Oh shit. I'm actually going to miss my exams. I'm going to fail that shit._

I was gripped in panic for a good second before I realized the absurdity of it. Then I laughed. Right now I was in a fucking fantasy world. Living in a space ship, in space, with aliens walking around right below me.

_Why the fuck am I worrying about class?_

I still had no idea how I had ended here. Although the most obvious answer was right before me, I opted to think on a more optimistic note. Back in the deep recesses of my mind, I fumbled for anything that could explain my insanity.

_Was I comatose back in the real world? Lying in my bed waiting for someone to find me? Or was I already found and just waiting for someone to pull the plug? Oh god, I hope I'm not wandering around my room blathering about Shepard and Reapers. That would fucking blow...did I just stop existing when I woke up on Prime, with life going on as usual without me? Was I teleported here in some kind of dimensional shift with the world stopping just as I left it? _

That last one would probably be the one to wish for. I wouldn't have to deal with all that other shit associated with the others.

_...Was I dead?_

I rubbed my eyes.

Ever since I had woken up in that alley way, I realized I hadn't had time to just stop for a few minutes and think to myself with no one around to bother me.

_First it had been Powell making things difficult, and then the events at the spaceport. Then focusing on getting to the Normandy, my new appearance, the events of the Med bay, dealing with Shepard, the Trial on the Citadel, Spectres, Saren, FUCKING SHIT._

I now stared at the ceiling again. I had become so engrossed in everything that had happened. Reacting to everything that came across me like it was just part of my daily routine. I had adjusted to everything I had seen way too fast.

_Seeing Shepard...I immediately just thought how I was going to get involved in her story. Not that the Space marines or Geth I was seeing were fictional characters. Seeing Nihlus for the first time too...it might have alarmed me to see the Turian dead but the next one I saw was no big deal. It was like that for every alien I saw for that matter. I was ambivalent to seeing freaking aliens everywhere. What the Fuck. And oh my god. Killing that Turian...I actually murdered somebody. You have grandiose daydreams about having to kill someone in self-defense sometimes and being an action hero but...Jesus. And besides the rush of adrenaline and vomiting, I had just gone on without giving it a second thought too hadn't I?_

It scared me to think how fast I had adapted to the situation. How fast I forgot none of this was real. How could it be real?

_And speaking of real...how do I get back to the real world. How do I get myself out of this place?_

I lied in the bunk for several more minutes repeating the question over and over in my head.

_Will it happen after I finish the game? After Shepard beats Saren? Will I just wake up in my bed? Or will I have to see the entire trilogy through? Oh shit._

I would have to _live_ to see the entire thing through. Now this line of thought racked my mind.

_What happened if I were to die? Would the mission reset? Would I wake up in this bunk on the Normandy? Would I wake up in my actual bed? Would I just straight up die for real? ...Fuck I could already be dead and all this some weird Purgatory._

I wasn't willing to really consider any of those no matter how plausible. I loathe admitting that I waited for a good amount of time hoping some omniscient being might reveal itself and give me the rundown of my situation. It didn't happen. No matter how much I egged it on in my thoughts. So, having no other options available, I resolved to take my predicament into my own hands.

This shit might be fake. My time here might be temporary.

_Hopefully. _

And even if I was only here for the events of the First Game.

_God I hope so._

I decided I would leave this place in the best state possible. I couldn't sit back knowing I had the power to change things for the better in this little fantasy. I'm not that much of a shitty person. And Admiral Kahoku came to mind as this was all decided.

_I'm not going to let that ol' bastard die just yet. Aaaaaand its not like I really have any other options available. Might as well make the best of it._

I jumped off the top of my bunk and left the room, proceeding to the Normandy's bathroom. And as I walked out, I happened to pass Shepard who was talking to Kaidan at his personal terminal. But I didn't really overhear anything from their conversation.

_Probably just talking about BaAT and L2 biotics-_

I then realized Shepard was one too. A biotic that is. And a good one at that. And her service record came to mind next.

_The Butcher of Torfan..._

What Barla had told me resounded in my head.

_Of course she's the Butcher, that's obvious...but what else was a part of your history Shepard?_

My first thought was that I should search her name on Mass Effect's version of the internet. Then I realized I still didn't know how to work my Omni-tool. As I next unzipped my pants at the stall, I made getting that tutorial in Chakwas' office my first priority.

Then my stomach rumbled.

_Maybe a bite to eat too._

* * *

**Hours Later.**

I walked up the steps. Joker was next on my list of people to talk to. Not like I had anything better to do while I was stuck on the ship. I imagined it would take quite a good amount of time for us to reach Therum even _with_ faster than light travel. Not like this was a video game with a quick travel option. Shaking my head at my predicament again, I went over the reasons for talking to him which included him knowing where we were currently were, how long it would take to get to our destination, and how I was actually kind of hoping the dude could get me in a better mood. He _was_ called Joker for a reason. When is Seth Green ever not hilarious?

As I passed by the ships' star map, I noticed Pressly pretending to bend over a control panel, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. The look didn't seem particularly friendly, so I pretended I didn't see him as I walked on by.

"So, you must be that criminal informant we have on our ship?"

_Aaaaand of course. God Dammit._

"Uh...I wouldn't exactly call myself a criminal," I remarked.

"But you do work for the Shadow Broker right? From what I've been told, he runs one of the biggest criminal consortiums in the Milky Way."

I gave him a look indicating he was out of his mind.

"He's not exactly a criminal...per se. The dude sells and buys information. Sometimes legitimately. And sometimes in a less than legal fashion. If you don't like the way he does business though, take it up with him. I just work for the guy."

The back and forth we had for the rest of the conversation was pretty much just this. I would say the Broker isn't a criminal mastermind (which he was) and Pressly would argue otherwise. Even though the dude admitted he had never heard of the Broker until recently. Honestly, it was like the guy just wanted to bitch about something. And I guessed if it wasn't about the aliens Shepard had brought aboard, it would be about the one outsider that Shepard actually seemed to hate too.

I had the dark thought of letting him go down with the Normandy in the Collector attack months from now.

_But even you'll be saved when I'm done here Pressly. Mark my words. Whether I like it or not._

I was eventually able to end the conversation with a "Nice meeting you," and escaped before he could say anything else. Master stroke on my part if I must say so myself. I then continued further down the bow of the Normandy until I finally reached the seat of our pilot and my destination. I decided to saddle up next to him and lean against his chair, getting comfy. He was still staring at the Normandy's interface when he spoke.

"Oh hey Rod, long time no see. How you adjusting to military life so far?"

"...Guess again," I said, thinking he had mistaken me for someone else.

"Huh? ...wasn't your name Rodder something? I thought it'd be easier t just shorten it to Rod. If it's not-"

"Oh. No it is...and in that case, never mind then." To be honest I actually kind of liked it. More than people calling me 'Marauder' or 'Shield' anyway. The name had definitely quite kind of turned out to be a bad idea. Who names themselves after obscure references anyway. "To answer your question though, it's been aight."

"Good to hear, good to hear. Oh, before I forget, you ever find that Beginner's guide for omni-tools downstairs?"

"I did actually," I beamed proudly. "And it was actually pretty helpful. These things are a_ lot_ easier to use than I had thought." I activated my omni-tool to demonstrate. "Impressive right?"

"Yeah, they try to make those things simple enough so even children can use them...no offense," he added after finishing.

_Touch_é.

I grinned. "None taken."

He looked up at me for the first time. "So...did ya want something in particular? Or are you just here to keep me company?"

"Just curious on where we were headed."

"Well," Joker started. "There we were, just entering the Athens System when all of a sudden, Admiral Hackett from Alliance Command radioed us. This is the guy in charge of the entire fifth fleet by the way. Although you might've already known that." I nodded my head as he asked. "Anyway, he said some slavers were in the area and asked us to check it out. Suspected their base of operations was somewhere in the Macedon system, SO that's where we're currently headed now."

_Slavers? Macedon? Neither of those are Therum. And I definitely don't remember fighting any slavers for a UNC mission._

"Uh, wasn't the Asari we're looking for in the Knossos system? Why aren't we headed there first?" I asked.

"I don't know man, I just fly the ship. Shepard and Pressly point out a place on the map, I get us there. If you have a problem take it up with them."

He seemed to get really defensive at my question. His reaction to it actually caught me off guard. "Hey, I didn't mean to second guess Shepard or anything. Just asking."

He let out a sigh. "Yeah well...sorry. I didn't mean get all pissy with you. I guess I've just been a little on edge. Some of the crew on the ship, Pressly, Adams-" He stared back at the red head behind me who had teased him the day before. "-and others are still questioning if I'm 'qualified' to fly this ship. Whenever someone has a question for me, it's usually just disguised criticism. When everyone's gunning for you, you tend to stay on guard."

"I didn't realize your work space was so hostile," I replied with honesty. "They're people gunning for you?"

"Uh, yeah. You remember how I mentioned I was the best pilot in the Alliance?"

"Yes."

"A lot of people don't feel that way...despite all my impressive commendations and records. You know, I wasn't even originally supposed to fly this ship."

The events of his stand-alone comic were still pretty fresh in my mind.

"Oh my god, you were the one who hijacked the SR-1 for a test run weren't you," I said feigning to connect the dots, like I had heard the story from some second hand source. I wasn't really in the mood for an entire synopsis of it.

He eyed me warily. "...I heard you can do that."

"Do what?" I asked genuinely curious.

"Knowing about secret things that should be...secret." He looked around like someone was eavesdropping. "What else do you know? Have any other dirt on me?"

I grinned at the chance to really freak him out.

"Alright, sure Jeff Moreau. Let's see. Graduated flight school top of his class. Was often passed over though because of his affliction with Vrolik's Syndrome. Resulted from absence of gene therapy in the remote colony of Tiptree that he was born in." Although I probably should have used a little more restraint telling him his life story, I decided to continue as the face Joker was making was hilarious. "After learning about the Normandy's first test run, you hijacked it by locking the original pilot in a shuttle. Would have been court martialed if not for a Turian general. Still has a father and sister back home. Has a fetish for-"

I didn't know where I was going with that last one but he stopped me before I could continue.

"Alright, alright, enough. Geez." He sat in his chair looking stunned. "Was me having brittle bones that obvious?"

"What? No, I would never have guessed. I only knew that from your file," I lied.

"My file?! Oh my god...do you know how paranoid you have to be to think every moment of your life was being watched? That there are people keeping tabs on everything you do from when you eat to when you take a tinkle? And then imagine that you actually discover you and your crackpot theories had been right all along?" He seemed to contemplate that his entire life might have been entertainment for some sick twisted pervert. Which was unfortunately true. I tried not to think about the implications. "Well...at least I know someone cares."

On that note, I thanked him for his time and turned back the way I came. It looked like Shepard planned to do some-

I shuddered at the thought.

-side quests before Therum. And ones I had never heard of before to boot.

* * *

**One Elevator Ride Later.**

Stepping out of the elevator, the storage area-slash-garage-slash-cargo bay of the Normandy seemed to be bustling with activity. Garrus was on top of the Mako, seeming to be hard at work messing with the mass accelerator mounted on it. To my left, Williams was hovering over the work bench taking a Lancer apart, piece by piece. It was the first time I had seen her out of her armor since I met her, and she actually had her hair down too Mass Effect 3 style. Strange stuff. Closest to me was Wrex who was digging through what I assumed to be his locker. And so, I decided to interrupt the one not hard at work.

"Whatcha up to there Williams?" I asked as I looked over her shoulder.

"Depends on who wants to know. Alliance regs state that marines shouldn't talk with civvies while they're on duty."

"...you aren't on duty now are you?"

She turned her head around and gave me a look that I determined was a combination of "Leave me alone" and "Fuck off jagaloon."

In response, I then took the safe move of doing the exact opposite of what she wanted.

"Hey, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot back on Eden Prime. I know I came across as a jack ass, and I just want you to know that I have nothing but the utmost respect for what you and your unit did back there. I wouldn't be alive now if it wasn't for them. I meant no disrespect when I put on your uniform."

She took a moment to register my apology before turning around to fully address me.

"If you really respect those marines, then you'd take off said uniform."

I would have been glad to take it off right then and there...if it wasn't the only thing that had kept me alive over the past couple of days. And that I had nothing else to wear.

"I promise the first chance I get to buy new clothes, I will Chief."

That finally seemed to win her over. Enough for her to lose the disgust on her face anyway. In fact, I think I almost saw a smirk.

"Just call me Ashley."

"Ash?"

"Ashley."

_I'll take what I can get._

"Well then, nice to meet you...Ashley," I said outstretching my hand. She stared at it and for a second, I thought she wasn't going to go for it. But then I suddenly found it being crushed in hers.

"I'm looking forward to working with you...all of you," I added.

"Just try not to get in the way alright?" Then the marine looked around awkwardly for a second before adding, "Hey...I don't think I ever told you thanks for telling me about Samesh. I would have no idea he was at the Embassies if it wasn't for you. Helping him get Nirali back...it...I...it really helped a lot to see her given a proper send off."

"I just pointed you his way."

"Still," she said. "Thanks."

I realized the conversation was suddenly getting dangerous close to the topic of her dead squad again and I decided to expertly steer clear.

"So...you disassembling that rifle?"

"Oh this?" she said turning around and giving the gun a good thump on the table. "Just giving it a tune-up. Definitely seen a lot of action over the past couple of days. I'll probably just end up checking its coil and ammunition block though, _might_ add a dampener mod while I'm at it."

I feigned interest as she went off on a tangent about how it was a heap of junk, but still insanely reliable. Like most Alliance standard military gear apparently. Hahne-Kedar supplied a majority of the arms used by marines in the Alliance, and the stock they received was only on par with the average firearm. If you wanted some quality equipment, apparently you should get products made by companies like Rosenkov Materials and Kassa Fabrication. They might cost you a pretty penny but was worth it in the long run. Or so she said. I still made a mental note of it regardless.

What I mainly learned though was that Ashley could talk your ear off. I was desperately searching for an out before we suddenly heard Shepard yelling out across the garage. "Williams! Wrex! Grab you're gear! We're up!"

I turned around to see Shepard, Kaidan, and those two Alliance marines named Emerson and Fredricks approaching the Mako.

"Looks like it's time for me to split," she said with a grin, making a move for her locker.

Garrus hopped off the vehicle as the soldiers started getting in. Shepard made a rude gesture at him to move aside. After that, I briefly made eye contact with her as she was about to board the death trap herself. But as I began to approach them, about to ask if I could tag along, she apparently read me like a book, and already knowing my question, shook her head no. She then disappeared within the vehicle. Just a few minutes later, Wrex and Ashely were aboard the Mako too and a loud hissing could be heard as the ramp of the Normandy opened. Blinking, I missed the Mako as it rocketed out of the ship backwards and plummeted to the planet below. And my heart sank a little bit.

I had just been left behind on our first assignment.

Thankfully, so was Garrus. I at least had him for company with everyone else was gone. And he seemed to share the sentiment.

"I"m pretty sure she had room for _at least_ one more. I'm beginning to get the feeling that Shepard doesn't like me," he confided.

"You and me both," I replied.

"I don't want to say it's because I'm a Turian but..."

Shepard HAD seemed like quite the racist-

_Or was it speciest?_

-back on the Citadel when Udina first mentioned him.

"I can understand why though," he then spoke next however. "A lot of Turians still harbor resentment toward Humans for what happened during the Relay 314 Incident too."

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't JUST hate Turians," I decided to add.

He seemed to disagree. "I don't get the feeling the Commander is like that. Not with how she interacts with the others. She doesn't seem to have any reserves when speaking to Wrex or Tali."

"True," I conceded. For he was right in that regard. Shepard hadn't argued against my vote for taking Tali along with us, and practically welcomed Wrex with open arms in C-Sec. I suppose in her own special way. "But I'm sure it's just because she doesn't know you. She'll come around eventually."

"Thanks," he said. "Though I have noticed that a lot of the Normandy's crew doesn't seem too partial to me either. You should see some of the looks I've been getting..."

It was almost as funny as it was sad that racism still existed 100 years into future.

_...or was it speciesism?_

"I'm sure you'll grow on them once they all realize you're just a regular Joe too."

"Grow on them?"

He seemed to be confused by the mention of Joe as well.

_Doh. Stupid cultural barriers._

"Sorry, Human idiom. It basically means once they get to know you."

"Ah."

In fact, he inquired a little more about Human culture with that prompt. How we addressed friends, greeted people informally, all that and more. The works. I had to admit it was kind of fun being the representative for an entire race. And I had to say I was surprised with how curious he was.

"Out of you, Wrex, and Tali, I wouldn't imagine you'd be the one asking me about all this," I mentioned honestly after he had finally run out of questions.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I thought they would teach you that kind of stuff at C-Sec. To help you deal with all the different races you meet and things," I replied eloquently.

"If it was to address multiple cultures with proper etiquette than yes. But informally when we were off the clock? Not so much. I didn't have too many Human friends back at C-Sec so I never quite learned how you Humans interact with your familiars...I was actually thinking that learning some of your customs that might help me win over some of the crew giving me the cold shoulder."

I had to say, it was admirable to see how much he cared about making a good impression on all the racist-

_Or was it speciest?_

-crewmen on board. And I decided to tell him that.

He seemed flattered. "Well, back when I served on the Serrikan, my commanding officer used to hammer into us that each and every crew member should be able to trust one another with their lives. If they didn't, the mission you were on was most certainly doomed for failure." He paused staring off into space.

"Huh. So what did you do if you had two guys who didn't get along? With how much your captain seemed to like team work, I imagine he had to have had a few tricks to get people to play nice."

"Corinthus usually did it with violence."

The name sounded familiar.

" 'Let your talons do the talking' is something he always liked to say. A lot of Turian ships you see usually have training rooms for exercise combat sims and even full-contact sparring. So whenever two crewmen were at each other's throats, he would throw them in the ring to settle their differences. And at the end, both parties would settle their grudges amicably, and walk away with a new found respect for each other. He had apparently been doing this ever since the Relay Incident. And most of the time, it seemed to work."

_Wait. This couldn't be..._

"Really? ...all the time? ...were you ever in one of these situations?"

"Yes actually. It was the night before a big mission. We were about to hit a Batarian pirate squad, very risky. And this recon scout and I had been at each other for most of the trip. Nerves mostly. With a mission like that coming up, the Commander hinted we should get over our differences. Settle it in the ring. Not subtly mind you. I was hesitant at first, but she goaded me into it."

_No way..._

"She was a woman? I hope you took it easy on her," I mindlessly said, practically hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for the thing.

"Actually, she and I were the top-rank hand-to-hand specialists on the ship. I had reach, but she had flexibility...it was brutal. My eye plate got cracked, and I'm pretty sure I knocked one of her fangs loose too. After nine rounds of going at each other, the judge had to call it a draw. There were a lot of unhappy betters in the training room that day."

"So...what happened with you two afterwards?" I asked eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"We...ah...ended up holding a...tiebreaker in her quarters. I had reach but she...uh...she had flexibility."

_Aaaand there it is. Classic Vakarian._

A Turian grin crept across his face. "More than one way to resolve a grudge I guess."

I found myself grinning at the end of his story too. "Going to try that with Shepard?"

That had the dude at a loss for words. He just kinda stood there with his mouth agape now, mandibles slacked, mind broken with the aforementioned hypothetical. Luckily for him, a familiar face was now approaching us from engineering. Adams had just finished talking to her and had taken the elevator up. And she had just spotted us as he had left.

"Garrus, Shield, did you not go planetside with Shepard?"

Garrus welcomed the distraction, breaking out of his trance, and wheeled around to face her. "Uh, no...there wasn't enough room for everyone. She ended up just choosing who she thought best suited for the mission."

"Who else did she take? I thought the Mako had room for eight?" the Quarian asked innocently.

_Eight?! WHAT?! Why the hell did you only take two squad mates at a time then!?_

"It was her, the Lieutenant, and the three other Alliance marines. Oh, and Wrex," he didn't fail to include. "The Krogan probably took up half of the seats in that thing alone," Garrus speculated.

"So what've you been up to this entire time Tali?" I inquired.

"Oh, just working with Engineer Adams on the drive core! Did you see how large it is? I can't believe they were able to fit it into a ship this small! I'm starting to see why you Humans have been so successful. I had no idea you had ships this advanced!"

"Well, the Normandy is special," I told her in place of a crewman that actually knew what they were talking about. "Prototype with revolutionary technology never seen before. I'm fairly certain a regular Alliance frigate would be less than impressive in comparison to one of your live ships in the Flotilla."

"I don't know about that," Tali replied.

"I have to say, I would love to see what that drive core on this thing can do in a fight," Garrus chimed in.

"From what Engineer Adams has told me, the Normandy is built for stealth, not combat," Tali relegated to him.

"But with the ship's advanced weaponry and the stealth drive adding a new tactical level to space combat as we know it, think of the possibilities! Surprise attacks, undetected flanking maneuvers..."

"Truth be told, if it comes to a fight, I'd prefer a flotilla ship. It's easier to trust what you know works. Some of our ships have been working for over several hundred years."

"Oh, sure they're reliable. But if you can't detect your enemy-"

_Well. Here I am, just chillin' with the Fleet and Flotilla. And you know what? I'm actually glad I didn't go down. I'm sure this is way better than dealing with Shepard barking orders at me._

I sat back and listened as the two went on passionately about their hypothetical space battles and their own experiences aboard other spaceships, feeling a sense that could only be described as geeky glee. A freudian slip out of nowhere about massive drive cores suddenly had what I assumed all of us blushing in short measure.

_Definitely better._

* * *

She stayed seated at the Mako's wheel. The rest of the team had already exited the vehicle, but she alone had decided to stay in her seat. While their mission was successful, it had not been what she was expecting. Instead of Batarians, the holdout they sieged was a random assortment of alien mercenaries who just happened to be as sick in the head as those four-eyed freaks. The fact that some of them had even been Human infuriated her.

_How the hell could they betray their own race?_

The head of the whole operation being Asari just puzzled her further. They were supposed to be the best the Galaxy offered, the most advanced species in the galaxy, and coincidentally were the closest to resemble Humans. Yet here one was replicating one of the most heinous crimes in the Milky Way. Shepard wasn't one to usually stereotype but she expected better from their race. She would have to report all this to Hackett too. She rubbed her head, getting a migraine just thinking of the paperwork. She then decided she would ask Kaidan to help with it. He always usually did.

Getting over her post-mission reflection, she exited the vehicle, only to find Shield be the first thing to pop up before her.

"Hey Commander! How was the mission?"

She wasn't in the mood. So she continued to walk toward the elevator.

"I'm assuming it went...well?"

She didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a yes. What did you guys find down there?"

She maintained her stride, ignoring him.

"That bad?"

His pestering had finally been enough.

"Oh? I thought you would already know by now," she said sarcastically. "The Broker didn't happen to tell you yet?"

The cheery disposition of the Broker's operative vanished. "If you didn't want to talk, you just had to say so."

"I don't want to talk."

Shepard then continued to the elevator and pressed the button to take her up. Shield didn't follow her up. She hadn't failed to turn around to make eye contact with him for a fraction of a second before the door sealed shut however.

_Only a few more days..._

Once she exited the elevator, she headed up the stairs toward the Command Deck. She needed to consult with Pressly about the best route for travelling to the Sparta System now. As much as she wanted Shield and Wrex off her ship, she had told Kaidan she would investigate the Admiral's missing marines next. Especially since she found the mystery of their disappearance concerning as well.

Reaching the top of the steps, she ran into Private Emerson.

"Oh Commander!" he spurt saluting. "I just wanted to say again that it was an honor to work with you. Watching you do a number on those slavers was amazing. That'll teach them to think twice about doing that anywhere near Alliance Space!"

She didn't have time to humor him.

"Emerson, I need you to write an additional mission report and turn it in to the Lieutenant. He should be updating the Admiral before we leave the system so I need it done in the next hour."

He snapped to attention. "Of course ma'am!" He also added, "Thanks again for taking me groundside," before running the rest of the way down the stairs.

She abstained from lecturing him that he had done less than satisfactory on the planet's surface. He was only marginally better than Shield at shooting, and he completely forgot that he could return fire from cover. And Fredricks fared little better. They were both honestly mediocre marines at best. She thought that guard detail on the Normandy had been beneath them but seeing them out on the field...

_If the Krogan does betray us on Therum, they'd be ripped apart._

Seeing Wrex barrel through five mercenaries in a row without even losing his shields reinforced that notion. They could handle Shield, but the Krogan Wrex would be a different story entirely.

_And what are my other options?_

Servicemen Tanaka and Felawa had severely low technical scores for their assignment. She suspected they had only gotten posts aboard the ship due to political connections or nepotism. She had reduced them to simply high-paid sentries, watching for any suspicious activity happening on the ship. She had thought Emerson and Fredricks would have at least had the potential to join the ground team, but they had shown otherwise once they had actually stepped out on the field today.

The only real good news from the mission was that the Gunnery Chief really _could_ hold her own. Fist's bar was filled with thugs who barely knew the right side of their guns. But the criminals in the base they sieged were significantly more dangerous. Yet the Chief had still fought commendably. Her survival on Eden Prime really hadn't been just due to cowardice. Williams definitely earned her spot aboard the vessel. In comparison to the others at least.

She tapped Pressly on the shoulder as he was apparently too preoccupied in whatever he was working on to notice her.

_I'll have to congratulate Williams later._

Navigator Pressly had a navigation route planned to the Sparta System by the time she had finished asking. At least their Chief Navigator had assuredly earned his post. He and Shepard sent the course immediately to Joker, and the pilot assured them they'd be there within the next couple of days.

_And that will be more than enough time to take stock of our current supplies._

She hadn't had time to do so with how quickly they had reached their first assignment. She left the two on the bridge and headed back downstairs to the mess hall. Apparently Anderson had also left her a gift before the ship was taken from his command too.

"Hey Commander, got a sec?"

She looked up from her personal locker to now find Lieutenant Adams standing above her. It'd still take time for her to adjust to gaining all of the Captain's duties. Aggravating as they were.

"What do you need Adams?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Oh Shepard. Thinking Wrex and Shield are working together in a conspiracy when they haven't even spoken a word to each other yet is hilarious! While we're on the topic of miscellaneous thoughts, I was imagining this (31. media. tumblr dot comm / tumblr _ m1qheqqvuf1qd33gj. jpg) reaction for Garrus when asked if he was going to try popping his heat sink with Shephard. Yeah yeah you can't actually click the link but if you're curious, hit it up :] **

**Turian facial expressions are hilarious!**

**Also, thanks to alienvx0 for pointing out the glaring mistake. I've made the fix so the Commander's name now reads 'Shepard' instead of 'Shefard'. ...Embarrassing.**

**On another note, the story's now (_practically)_ a month old! Milestone achieved! Though 11 chapters released in a month seems to me like I didn't write that much, it_ almost_ amounts to about three days per chapter. Which is decent. You can applaud if you want. I just wanted to give a heads-up though after heading back to school, and having homework, and projects, and stuff; I'll probably be updating much less frequently. It doesn't help my free time to write that I also just got DA:I and that I'm also a lazy fuck. Give a week tops until the next chapter. Definitely going to finish though, because I'll be damned if don't see this thang through.**

**(2016 EDIT: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA. '11 chapters in a month doesn't seem like a lot'. HAHAHAHHAHAAHHA-)**

**In the Next Chapter: Lava, Heatsinks, and Geth. I definitely didn't ask for any of this. My First Assignment!**

**Tune in next time to Act 1 of Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	11. Geth, Geth, and Guess what, Geth

Ozzy Ozbourne - Crazy Train (1:05 for the sing-along)

* * *

_**(**Mental wounds, Not Heaaaaling_

_Life's a bit-ter shaaaaame_

_I'm goin' off the rails on the Crazy Train!_

_Dun dun dun dun dun dun_

_I'm going off the raaaaails on the Crazy Traaaain!_

_*wicked guitar solo***)**_

The Omni-tool for Dummies Handbook was probably the best thing that's happened to me since I woke up on Eden Prime.

_**(**I listened to preachers,_

_I've listened to fooools**)**_

When Shepard didn't pick me again for the mission on Edolus _I_ discovered, that's what I spent most of the day messing around on.

_**(**I've watched all the dropouts**)**_

The first thing I did was surf the Extranet for any info on Shepard to see what her history was. Which just resulted in a gazillion news articles on her recent appointment as Humanity's first Spectre. Not exactly helpful.

_**(**Who make their own ruuuuules**)**_

I tried searching for what I could find on Wrex, Anderson and several others of the Normandy's crew on the Extranet too but I couldn't find what I wanted. Apparently, searching for specific individuals of little note in a Galaxy of Trillions didn't get you many results, go figure.

_**(**One person conditioned_

_To rule and controool**)**_

After THAT, I decided to say "fuck it" and mess around. I thought it would be fun to download one of the many free films floating around, settling on the first one I was familiar with. I found disappointingly that Blasto 1 was complete shit. Five hours long, horrible acting, and having the worst narrative I have ever goddamn seen, I was totally confused with how the cinematography of the future had become so awful.

_I guess the longer lifespans of aliens explained its length but..._

_**(**The media sells it_

_And you live the rooooole**)**_

At my wits end, I decided to see if I could at least find some decent music to download. Realizing all the top hits in the 22nd century was Techno with no lyrics, I almost broke down and cried. Only on a whim did I search for songs from Earth's 20th Century...which actually found me a surprising amount. Settling for what I saw and could actually tolerate, I was now listening to Ozzy as he rocked out in my earpiece.

_**(**Mental wounds still screaaaaming**)**_

I felt weightless as the Mako propulsed itself into the air.

_**(**Driving me insaaaane_

_I'm going off the rails on the Crazy Traaaain**)**_

_Speaking of crazy..._

Shepard's erratic driving was causing me a lot of discomfort. It wasn't her fault specifically, as from what I could see she was driving relatively well. More or less. It was just that with every sharp turn, every pothole we hit, every time we shot seven feet into the air to avoid an Armature's energy pulse, my head would slam against the metal wall behind it.

_**(**I'm going off the rails on the Crazy Traaaaaain_

_*wicked chord***)**_

"OW-"

Naturally, my head snapped back against the Mako's cold steel wall as it collided with the ground again. I didn't fail to notice Wrex's mouth curve into a grin across from me as it happened. I turned off the song when he started to open it.

"-umans are so fragile. If you had a headplate like Krogans do, you all wouldn't get concussed so damn easily."

_Yeah, your headplate is totally the reason why you're head's not hurting. Not the human sized hump cushioning it._

"Or a helmet," Kaidan said next to him. "You should've grabbed one before we left."

"You guys had spare helmets?!"

"...I thought the Commander told you we had some equipment for you during your briefing."

"Must have slipped my mind," Shepard said from the front.

_Shepard...I hate you. I hate you so hard right now._

She could've actually killed me. All I had on me was the armor and pistol I woke up with on Eden Prime. If I had an assault rifle, grenades, or hell, even that helmet, I would feel a LOT better about facing the army of Geth between us and the dig site. And the Mako soon returned to its silence once again.

Across from me, Wrex looked bored, after not getting to man the turret like he had wanted. Kaidan was squeezed to his right, and Emerson on his left. Both marines were looking down at the floor, which I took to mean both were mentally preparing themselves again for the fight ahead. Next to me, Fredericks sat on my right and Tali on my left. Besides Fredericks and Kaidan was where the head of the vehicle was located, and where Shepard was driving and Ashley manned the guns. Even with the gunfire from outside however, the Mako was still too quiet for my taste, as we continued on our way to rescue our damsel in distress...

* * *

**Hours Earlier...**

"Hey Shield!"I turned around to find a marine standing in front of me. "Shepard wants you down in the garage."

"Uh...Why?"

"I don't know. If I were you though, I'd get down there as soon as possible. The Commander doesn't like to be kept waiting."

I knew that all too well.

And as I took the elevator down, I thought of what I would say. After Shepard's team had discovered the missing marines and taken down the false distress signal, I had gotten pretty upset. I hadn't said anything to her but at the rate we were going, I realized I would never even see the inside of the Mako by Ilos. Although I'll admit not fighting the Thresher Maw was slightly comforting, I was still dead set on being a part of the action. I mean, that's why I was fucking here.

_Uh, YOU didn't decide to be HERE-_

_Shut up. You know that's not what I meant._

While I didn't choose to wake up in Universe of Mass Effect per se, I did 'choose' to be on the Normandy. To help make a difference. Prevent the unfortunate circumstances that would arise on Shepard's travels from ever happening. I couldn't do that though if I was never in any of them. As I exited the elevator, I immediately spotted her standing next to the Mako, talking to Vakarian. I steeled myself as I approached. I still didn't know what I planned to say or how I would convince her but I was damned if I wasn't at least going on one Priority Mission by the end of this journey-

"Get what you need. We're arriving at Therum in a couple hours."

"What." I blinked a couple times.

"You. Therum. Next mission. Or is that a problem?" Shepard replied harshly.

"Oh?...NO! Not at all!" I spat out.

"Alright then," she said grimacing while turning back to Garrus.

I stood there for a second in shock.

_Well...alright then. Nice work me._

* * *

**Hours Later (Otherwise known as The Present)...**

All eight of us exited the vehicle once we had arrived at the quarry's entrance.

"Looks like we're gonna have to go on foot," Ashley obviously remarked as we climbed out.

"Keep your eyes open," Shepard ordered as we were all forced to enter the canyon single file.

"SHIT!" Fredericks then exclaimed as the Geth finally made their presence known.

Just when we had started climbing up the hill, three Geth had already popped up at the top. But before Emerson could additionally scream "GETH!" they had all been dropped by the seasoned veterans. I on the other hand simply trembled where I was in the back.

_Well I'm not ready for this._

The closest I've ever been to a shootout was a paint ball fight. The closest you can get to the paralyzing fear of combat, knowing that around any corner or from any direction you could get pelted with a tiny million balls that stung like shit. Technically there had been the fire fights on Eden Prime and the one in the Wards Alley before this, but I had hid for most of both. We were actually walking onto a battle field with nowhere to hide this time around. And I found it fucking terrifying.

Reaching the top of the slope now, our force turned the corner to find a valley littered with what seemed to be waist high stone walls. Convenient. A shot suddenly rang past my neck from the watch tower on the other side of the gulch. That, not so much.

"Sniper's down!" Ashely shouted.

I realized she was the one who had taken the shot. Not the Geth. I was about to remark to her she had been a little close before the Geth started swarming into the valley from the other side.

"TAKE COVER!" Shepard yelled barreling down the slope. I was the last to follow her instruction as a hail of gunfire fell upon our position. Once at the bottom, I found the nearest waist high natural formations taken by Emerson and Tali. Running past their positions, I found the next three taken by Wrex, Kaidan and Fredericks. I maneuvered around them to find Shepard and Ashely at the only other two not occupied by Geth. So I ended up just standing there exposed in the middle of the battle field wondering what the hell I should do.

_Lie on the ground? That would be a little-_

"TAKE COVER SHIELD!" Kaidan yelled from behind as blast of energy shot by me.

I quickly made eye contact with the Geth that had done so and put a slug between its eye. Two shots to take down its shields. One to put it down. All in the span of a second.

"Woah, nice one!" I heard from Emerson.

Adrenaline's a hell of a drug. And then like an asshole, I almost turned around to smugly say thanks before my shield got ripped to shreds by three more. Ashley tackled me to the ground viciously, and then dragged me back to her own cover.

"What the FUCK are you doing?" she yelled at me over the gun fire. Shepard threw a biotic field from her hand and Wrex advanced to the recently vacated cover ahead of us. My shield beeped before coming back online.

Getting to my knees, I shrugged my shoulders at her and ran out after the Krogan. "SHIELD!" But I could barely hear her shout after me. The sound of the fire fight was deafening, as at least 18 guns blasted away at each other in the valley.

"Hey Wrex." I said next saddling up next to him. I found myself laughing as I said it. No idea why. Probably just a manic attack from almost being killed. He eyed me like I was insane. Which still wasn't really out of the question at this point-

"Now's not the-"

"See ya Wrex!" I said rolling back out of cover to the right.

And that found a Geth standing several feet away from where I currently found myself. Whoops.

_Why did I just do that?_

I squeezed the trigger of my Predator at least 3 times before it even had a chance to raise its gun. But even though its body was hissing like a rattlesnake, the thing was still standing. Then something popped out of my gun and I dropped it in surprise.

Luckily, the Geth was only able to fire a single shot at my shoulder before it was downed by someone else.

_...Oh. Fuck me._

My gun looked like a Hahne-Kedar issued Kessler. But it was bigger. And when Ashely's wasn't looking, I had compared it to hers. They were both still about the same weight. I thought it might have been a striker or one of the other generic pistol models back in the first game but referred to it as a Predator nonetheless. But surprise surprise, it actually was an M-3 Predator. As in, the gun from ME2. The guns that actually needed ammo. I cursed my luck. My horrible, no good, dirty, rotten luck. Damn bastard.

And there I was. Biotics, tech powers, and rockets flying back and forth across the battlefield. Bullets whizzing overhead. The only comforting thing was that I was kneeling down on far right side of the canyon's battlefield, under the cliffside, being ignored by both the Geth and my squad.

_Guess I'll just have to take his-_

The Geth's pulse rifle ahead of me suddenly sparked and started smoking.

_Aaaaand of course._

The Normandy's fire team was slowly making progress forward, despite my lack of contribution, but the rate of fire the Geth were keeping up was preventing them from really making any headway. And that had me wondering-

_How are they holding them back? There's not even that many Ge-_

Then it hit me. A Eureka! moment. Probably the first I had since I've gotten here. And hopefully not the last. I immediately crawled over to the Geth I 'killed' and started searching it. And I found what I was looking for attached to its back. I picked it up and fumbled with my gun for a while before it finally, BAM, it clicked in.

_FUCK YEAH._

I slowly crept back into the shadows of the cliff side as the battle continued to rage on in the gulf's center. Wrex had tried to charge the Geth line twice but was stopped by a missile both times. Tough cookie that one. The marines on the other hand were pinned, unable to return fire with the amount of heat coming down on them.

As I reached the far corner of the battle field, I saw that a line of 6 Geth troopers were the only thing left separating them from the other side. They had those portable plasma shields placed in front of them which prevented any of the team's abilities from effectively being used against them. And even though Shepard was still flinging as many mass effect fields at them as she could, it did little to break them.

I jumped as I suddenly heard Joker speak up over my radio.

"Shepard, the Geth ship just turned back around and is headed your way!"

_Shit._

If we were tied down any longer, that ship could drop reinforcements right on top of us. Or better yet, just blast us to smithereens. Now was the time to throw caution to the wind.

_God, Buddha, Satan, give me strength._

I don't know what came over me. Courage? Adrenaline? The disembodied spirit of Rambo?

No idea. But I harnessed my inner warrior and let out a guttural war cry as I leaped out from the shadows, squeezing the trigger of my gun as quickly as I could. My arms didn't fling back with the recoil like the few times before.

I ended up shooting two Geth dead set in their chests. Five shots total. Somehow.

And the third I hit in the head. Three shots total.

The remaining three turned to me, I imagine, in surprise. Big mistake. Seeing their first opportunity since the battle started, Wrex and Shepard charged their position again while the rest laid down suppressing fire for the first time since they had gotten pinned. A rocket trooper I hadn't seen above me was sniped by Williams. And then, just like that, it was over. It had taken less than a minute to end the seemingly endless fight.

I quickly ran and bent over to start collecting the Geth's thermal clips before Shepard and the rest got to my position. I didn't want their questions about what I was looking for and why I might need them. Why I definitely needed them.

"How the hell did you get over there?!" Ashley said as the last of the fire team reached me.

Luckily I had already finished looting the Geth's bodies. And in response, I just shrugged my shoulders at her. She rolled her eyes exasperated, and followed Shepard and Wrex who had already begun scaling the hill up to the other side.

"Not bad," Fredericks remarked walking by me. Which was true. I was pretty impressed myself. Then Emerson and Kaidan also gave me nods of approval as they passed. I decided to bring up the rear again with Tali who I thought also seemed a little shell shocked.

"You okay?" I decided to ask her in concern. And with that, she almost jumped, seeming surprised by the fact that I was even standing right next to her.

"Ah!...yes. I'm fine. I'm...I just...I've never seen this many Geth in my life before. Let alone fight them."

I wish I could say I was fine too. But I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack. My heart was still beating a mile a minute from what just happened and my suit felt like a swamp. Wet, itchy and humid. Or maybe it was all in my mind. Regardless-

_I really need a shower._

"Watch yourself. I'm sure there's more out here," I decided to advise her, moving my attention toward the large refinery ahead of us.

And THEN I noticed Shepard had already made her way in and was practically half way to the mine's entrance.

_SHEPARD-what-you-fuck-fuck-the fucking colossus-_

"SHEPARD, TAKE COVER!"

At the sound of my voice, I could see Shepard wheel around to glare at me. Probably mad I had just tried to give her an order. But she was quickly distracted as a laser hit her back and knocked her to her hands and knees. The Geth leaper didn't get far though as it was subsequently shot down by Kaidan. Like I had just pointed out however, it was kinda the least of our worries as the Geth dropship Joker aforementioned suddenly appeared humming over us.

"TAKE DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!" I could hear Shepard yell as she rolled behind a crate to her right. It was right in time too because a Geth armature landed with a loud clunk a couple yards from where she had just been.

Tali and I hauled ass to the nearest cover we could find in response, as a giant plasma burst sailed over our heads.

"Holy SHIT!" I heard Emerson yell over the added fire of Geth shock troopers also being dropped off.

"I've killed bigger things than this," I heard Wrex bellow over the unmistakable sound of a shot gun ringing in the air. Tali leaned out to send a sabotage at what I assumed to be a Geth and I decided to lean out my side to see what I could do too. On the left side of the crate however, all I could see was a long corridor beneath whatever the structure was above us, cordoned off and hidden from the Geth by a giant wall to the right. Assessing its safety, I decided to leave cover and sneak into it.

I froze as I heard a scream and subsequent yelling erupt from the other side of the wall next to me. Then I began to sprint. And I sprint to the end of the corridor, finding myself emerging on the other side of the site, right behind the flank of the Geth Colossus.

"Alenko, Tali, I need overloads NOW!"

Shepard's orders rang clearly in my ear. The radio continued to transmit the team's back and forth. And was probably the source of the scream I had just heard.

"That thing's electronic defenses are too complex for our omni-tools Shepard! Our tech attacks won't cut it!" Kaidan yelled back to her.

Taking another peek around the structure's column, I could only truly see the haunches of the the Colossus itself.

"Fredericks is bleeding out bad Commander!" I heard Ashley yell next.

Shepard cursed over the radio. I decided to report in.

"Shepard, I'm behind the Colossus. I can try to distract it."

She paused before responding.

"Then try to bring its attention on you. Fall back if you get it!"

"Will do," I responded opening fire on the black tubing underneath the Colossus' silver shell.

I couldn't see its front and therefore, I couldn't see when it turned its head to launch a ball of plasma at me. The explosion sent me flying back and sounded off the alarm that my kinetic barriers were down.

"Shield!"

I tried to respond but it felt like I had something caught in my throat. I just laid there on the ground heaving. And then my eyes widened as panic gripped me.

_Please don't fucking tell me my rib's fractured again._

"Hey...what's it doing!?" I heard Wrex shout over the noise of the fire fight.

I took three deep breaths. Then I forced myself to calm down, and managed to roll onto my stomach. With that done, I came to a slow crawl back around the column to see what he was talking about. As soon as I had peeked back around the refinery structure's vast wall, I saw what he meant. I briefed them on the thing.

"It's a repair protocol! Once one of those things take enough damage they curl up and start to repair themselves!"

"WHAT?! How are we supposed to destroy this thing then!?" I heard Ashley yell on the radio.

I started firing my gun at it again to give her a hint. I only fired three shots before I saw Wrex suddenly leaping onto the back of its left leg however. And then I continued to watch as he began to climb the thing.

_What the fuck._

My gun ejected a heat clip.

"WREX!" I heard the Commander yell over the radio.

"This is how it's done boys and girls!" Wrex shouted as he got onto its back and waltzed over to the Colossus' neck joint.

Just before he pulled his trigger, it popped right back up, disengaging its repair matrix, almost flinging Wrex clear off in the processs.

"Distract it! Make sure to watch your shots!" Shepard barked as she started the fire fight again.

I decided to oblige, albeit using my ammo sparingly in the process, realizing bullets didn't grow on trees. You didn't come by Thermal clips in 2183 easily. And despite it's earlier action, Wrex had been able to hang on and was now on its neck, shimmying up. Halfway to the top, he pulled out his shot gun and blasted the turret underneath the Geth's head to kingdom come. While making it easier to return fire for the rest of us, it had also alerted the thing to the Krogan on it. I guess you could describe what it started to do as shake, although it almost seemed to be dancing, dancing as it tried to throw the Krogan off. I left my cover with the danger of the turret gone and fully open fired on it along with the others. Wrex kept climbing disregarding the Colossus' tantrum (and our gunfire too), and soon found, himself at the top of its head.

"It's no Thresher Maw but I'm sure this will kill it all the same," he said over the radio, blasting what I thought to be a carnage shot through its head.

And that suddenly caused it to start sputtering. Its legs gave out, neck dropped crooked, and finally, it collapsed to the ground. Violently. Wrex was flung several feet away once its head followed suit. Lucky for him too as the whole thing went up in a giant blue ball of flame shortly afterwards.

"God damn," Ashley remarked exiting cover.

Shepard radioed the Normandy.

"Joker, ready the med bay, we have two wounded. Get down here ASAP!"

"Yes ma'am!" Joker responded over the radio.

At that, I rushed back over to the group that had formed underneath one of the structure's walkways. Getting close, I saw how bad the marines were injured. Fredericks' armor was melted away at the side and had a large amount of blood flowing from it. Kaidan was trying to apply medi-gel to stop it. And beside him, Emerson was being attended to by Tali and Ashley, having a couple bullet holes riddled along his right arm and shoulder.

Shepard glanced at me as I passed her.

* * *

After Shield had stumbled by, she realized things couldn't have gone worse.

A good part of her team had been taken out of the mission before they had even found T'Soni and she now learned that Shield's ineptitude had all been a façade as well.

Not only was he able to sneak by the Geth undetected but dispatched a good amount of them without any effort too. All clean shots. Placement along the head and body. He seemed to be barely able to handle the recoil of his gun back on Eden Prime but now apparently had marksmanship on par with Kaidan. He had faked his ineptitude all along, playing them. With the Krogan's feat well in her mind too, she was no longer confident if they could take them on.

She ended her conversation with Chakwas and told Vakarian to follow her out. Wrex, Shield, Williams, and Kaidan were still waiting at the bottom of the ramp.

"Commander, didn't Tali come down with you?" the Turian said beside her looking around.

"She's examining some of the Geth we shot. We're hoping she can find some more information on Saren and his whereabouts." Then she turned to the rest. "No doubt some Geth already entered the ruins, keep your eyes open and guns out."

She then ordered the group into the mine's tunnel. She narrowed her eyes and nodded to Williams and Kaidan as they passed her. They gave a quick nod back. Shepard had briefed the four marines before they came planet side to watch Shield and Wrex, telling them of her suspicions. Only Kaidan had openly expressed his disagreement about where their loyalties lay but told her regardless that he would keep an eye out.

Shepard made sure to enter the mine shaft last.

And why were they even suspected of anything in the first place?

Because both admitted they worked for the Shadow Broker. And the Shadow Broker had made deals with Saren. Fist was a prime example of this. Though Fist's OSD only contained information on his illicit activities, she was still surer than ever that the two were going to double-cross them. And she planned for them to do it here instead of on a more critical mission.

_But their actions depicted the opposite didn't they?_

If Shield hadn't flanked the Geth back in the quarry, they would've have been pinned until the drop ship arrived. Then the Geth artillery would have been dropped right on the top of the hill. None of them would've survived. And then Wrex had taken that suicidal risk of taking it down hand to hand at the dig site moments ago too. He was a Krogan though, and they were blood thirsty and stupid. And Shield had still lied on multiple occasions. He did it when they first found him, and apparently he had lied about his abilities with a gun too. He had to have had training somewhere. And a sufficient amount of it.

She saw Geth ahead now but could do little from the back of the single file line. Wrex and Garrus who were taking point killed them however with little effort and the group continued on down the tunnel.

_Shield or Wrex most likely warned the Doctor that we were coming for her and set up a trap. There they'll turn on us and we'll most likely be ambushed by more Geth too. _

She had Williams and Alenko prepared for the scenario but Vakarian assuredly was not.

Would they be enough for Wrex, Shield and however many Geth there were?

They had to be.

Several Geth drones rose from below the scaffold they were standing upon, but they were quickly dispatched by the fire team. Actually surveying her environment for the first time, she noticed there was a faint blue light coming from ahead. And as they all gathered in front of the elevator that would take them down, she examined the light's source. It came from some kind of concave in the wall...a Prothean construct. The glow reminded her of the Prothean beacon and the vision quickly flit through her mind, causing her to flinch.

"Never visited a Prothean Ruin before," Vakarian said breaking the silence. "...besides the Citadel."

"Sterile white. Protheans sure built things homey," the Krogan added moments later.

As Wrex, Vakarian and Shield were the first to pile into the elevator, the Broker's operative seemed to be in a panic now. She hadn't known why until she heard a loud thump, and was told from below that the elevator had 'malfunctioned' halfway.

_A trap meant for us._

Shield asked them how they were going to get down but she chose not to respond, carefully jumping onto the elevator cable and sliding down after them. She had her hand on her holstered weapon as she vaulted onto the scaffold next. Wrex and Vakarian had already started to continue down it. But Shield eyed her as she walked past him.

_They're going to act any second._

She quickly took stock of their surroundings. The walkway they were on was narrow, extremely advantageous to the Krogan since it was such close quarters. He would be able to blow through them easily. Unless she used her biotics to stagger him. Then Kaidan could overload his shields. And then he would just be an over-sized target. Below them though was a cavern that could easily hide any number of Geth. They would certainly complicate things. And Shield was still behind her.

She braced herself.

_This was it..._

A foreign voice caused her to jump.

"Uh...hello? Could somebody help me?...Please?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**If you weren't familiar the song in the beginning is Crazy Train by Ozzy Ozbourne (1:07). Not exactly my favorite song but certainly a fun one that I would choose if I had to pick between it and Jazz from the 1920's. Ew.**

**I probably could have got a lot more done this week too if it wasn't for Dragon Age, and its ridiculous segues! I wish it would at least ease me into its plot points! Anyways...**

**In the Next Chapter: Asari, and Krogan, and Prothean visions, Oh my! The Throwdown on Therum!**

**Tune in next time for Act 1 of Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	12. The Taxing Thrashing on Therum

Shepard had only taken two steps past me when we heard Liara speak, and as we did, the women immediately whipped around in surprise, brandishing her pistol.

"Woah! I'm pretty sure that's just Dr. T'Soni," I almost shrieked back in terror.

In return, she gave me the dirtiest look I've ever seen before quickly pivoting back around, and hopping down to the level below. Shutting my eyes and taking a deep breath (after additionally waiting a couple seconds), I followed her down onto the platform. The platform where we would finally meet Liara T'Soni, ace archaeologist, the squad mate one could basically categorize as a Lara Croft Lite.

"Uh...hi there," we found Vakarian saying, trying to start a conversation with the trapped Asari.

"Hello? Can you hear me out there? I am trapped, I need help!"

"Quit shouting! This place is full of Geth!" Shepard snapped at the both of them as she walked up. She then turned to Wrex, and then to where he was staring, out into the empty cavern below.

"Sorry, I am a little-Look. My name is Dr. Liara T'Soni. I am an archaeologist."

Peeling myself away from the cavern, I turned my attention back to Liara. Or to what I thought was her. Actually looking at it, I found that the bright blue Prothean force field really distorted your view of her. I couldn't see Liara at all. And if I hadn't known any better, I would've thought the barrier was hiding a Hanar on the other side. It was completely opaque. Really hampering my excitement to the meet the final member of the team.

"This thing I am in is a Prothean security device. I cannot move so I need you to get me out of it all right?"

"Quit your posturing, we know who you are. How did you end up in there?" Shepard questioned turning back around.

"I was exploring the ruins when the Geth showed up, so I hid in here. Can you believe that? Geth! Beyond the Veil!"

"Shocking I'm sure," I butted in.

"Wha-How many of you are there?"

Shepard answered before anyone else could tell her. "Doesn't matter. And just give me the short version."

"...Well, I came into this chamber to activate the barrier, hoping it would keep the Geth out. Only I think I hit something I wasn't supposed to. After they left, I found myself trapped. You must get me out. Please!"

As the two conversed, a wave of paranoia overtook me, and once again, I turned around towards the cavern below. And after surveying the cavern floor littered with light fixtures and knocked over crates, I eventually found what I was looking for. I almost mistook the giant laser for a large boulder. It was left perched in the middle of a bunch of debris, and seemed utterly defunct. But I knew better. Finding what I had wanted and done admiring the view, I looked back up to my left, where I now found Ashley observing me out of the corner of her eye.

_Uh..._

I jerked my head away and inconspicuously felt my face to see if there was something on it from lunch. She had just stared at me pretty weird then.

"-it seems to me you shouldn't have been messing with things you didn't understand," Shepard replied callously behind me.

Not finding anything too unusual on my countenance, I decided to turn back to the Gossip Girls.

"I wasn't going to let the Geth just capture me! Besides, I know how it works! Mostly."

"Uh-huh," Kaidan said skeptical.

"I do! There is a control in here that should deactivate this thing. You'll just have to find some way past this barrier curtain."

"The control that turns off the impenetrable barrier is _inside_ the impenetrable barrier?" Ashley asked in disbelief.

"Yes, that's the tricky part. The defenses cannot be shut off from the outside. I don't know how you'll get in here-"

"We'll find a way," Shepard cut her off.

Then Wrex got the ball rolling again. "Looks like we have visitors!" he clamored while jumping down into the cavern beneath us.

Shepard whipped around, just in time to see his descent. And then she turned to me. I shrugged back, and made a beeline after Ashley and Kaidan as they ran down the ramp.

_Here we go-_

"I'll cover you!" Garrus shouted as the rest of us descended.

We found that the Geth didn't give us as nearly as much trouble as the ones had above ground. As spread out as they were, the synthetics weren't nearly putting up as much resistance. Not that I was really aware of that though as my attention was more focused on the giant laser towering above me. I didn't really think we had time to wait for Shepard to fumble around for the proper move here, wondering what to do after the battle was over.

So I clicked a couple buttons on its console and luckily, it began to light up. Then, four buttons came up on its screen.

_Well...at least THIS is like the game._

I clacked away at the buttons until stumbling upon the right combination on the fourth try.

_And Jackpot!_

As it started lighting up, Shepard seemed to have finally noticed my shenanigans.

"Shield! What are you-"

Her voice was subsequently drowned out as the laser sputtered on, which now attracted the attention of the rest of the team. I glanced over my shoulder to reply to her...before I quickly found myself yelling, as the thing was pretty damn loud.

"Thought this would be our ticket in-"

The thing let out a giant roar as it fired, utterly drowning out my voice. In fact, I cringed at the racket and looked back to the thing to find a stream of what seemed to be molten lava streaming out of it. And as soon as the beam made contact with the cavern wall, a large explosion erupted forth, sending out huge amounts of debris and dust with gale force winds. I was immediately blinded by its sudden onslaught, and soon started gasping for air. But regardless of all this, the laser just continued for all of a second before letting out another whine and powering down. And I was still gagging from the smoke when it did.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" Shepard yelled somewhere behind me. The density of the dust clouds around us however made it really hard to tell where_ anything_ was, let alone her. I could barely even see my own feet on ground.

"I found us a way in!" I decided to shout back while stumbling to where I thought my handiwork was. And apparently, I had forgotten the laser formed a hole in the _ground_. A second after I had responded to Shepard I fell into the newly-made pit and hit the ground below with a solid thud. By the time I got myself to my feet, Shepard and Kaidan were already hopping down after me. And after looking around at my success, the Commander ended up just shooting me a glare. Kaidan continued onward toward to a Prothean computer ahead of us.

"Wrex, Ashley, meet us back upstairs at the barrier!" Shepard shouted back up towards the hole.

"Roger that Commander!" Ashley replied back from the top.

* * *

As the platform began to rise, a silly grin plastered my face. Shepard was noticeably annoyed by my smile, so much so that she was actually gripping her gun pret-ty tight. But I couldn't give a damn with how giddy I was. We had almost completed our first mission now. And without any hitches! Drove through rivers of lava, busted down the Geth gatehouses with ease, and all of us made it past the armature alive. I mean...Fredericks and Emerson had been...wounded...but from the way Chakwas was talking, they didn't seem to have any life-threatening conditions! Slap some medi-gel on them and they'd be good as new! I mean, I would have to be pretty morose to not be elated with just getting off this rock alive, let alone with everyone else.

The elevator gave one final lurch as it stopped itself at T'Soni's chamber.

While Kaidan and Shepard took a gander at the Asari levitating before us, I made a straight beeline for the Prothean prison's control panel.

"How...how did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past the barrier!"

"You're welcome" I said suavely, continuing my strut up to the console. I really made sure to milk the moment. Not everyday you get to rescue a damsel in distress. And once my feet were planted in front of it, the thing lit up like a Christmas tree. And then I bit my lip at the sight.

_Huh. What the hell do I do._

The holographic display contained a dozen different buttons. Or what looked like some. There was a circular ring comprised of four rhomboids and a bunch of various shapes and button sizes around them. At this point I started sweating. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, waiting for me to release her. Or in Shepard's case, probably just waiting for me to fuck up. With one eye closed, I timidly tapped the bright yellow button in the middle of it all.

_IIIIIII should have let Kaidan do this-_

The "OOf!" behind me immediately made me sigh in relief.

_Hahaaa. Marauder Shield, you son of a bitch. You did it again._

"Doctor, any idea how we get out of this place?" Kaidan decided to ask.

"I'm guessing the way we came in is out of the option?" Wrex cut in walking past the now defunct barrier alongside Ashley and Garrus.

I turned around to face our newest guest and I admit my jaw dropped a little. Despite the finger-like tendrils coming out the back of her head and the blue tint of her scaly skin, the girl had it goin' on.

_Well, I mean, she is cute and all but-_

"There is an elevator at the back in the center of the tower. At least, I think it's an elevator."

"...did you actually even study anything here," Ashley rudely remarked.

"It should take us up! I'm sure of it. Come on!"

Once we were all situated on it, I let Kaidan take the reins this time. He tapped a few buttons on the tower's console and with a groan and a KCHUNK, it started moving.

"I-I still cannot believe all this. Why would the Geth come after me?"

"Good question Doctor. It's probably because they were sent here to retrieve Benezia's daughter."

"Wh-what? What does this have to do with my mother?" Liara innocently sputtered.

"The Geth are working with a Turian named Saren. And your mother is helping them. They're after something called the Conduit. As an expert on Protheans, we thought he might contact you," Garrus said catching her up to speed. "Do you know anything about it?"

"The...Conduit? But I don't-" she paused mid-sentence like she had just been slapped by Shepard. "What? What do you mean my mother is helping the Ge-"

What I was pretty sure to be an earthquake interrupted her as it shook the foundation of the ruins around us. An "Oh Fuck" escaped my mouth.

"What the hell was that," Ashley said whipping her head around.

"Shield's bright idea must've caused the ruins to become unstable!" Shepard said angrily, pointing the hand with her gun at me.

Her stabbing motions while speaking were actually making me quite nervous. To be completely frank, with the way Shepard was holding her gun, you'd think she was about to put a slug in me.

"We have to hurry then! It seems that the whole place is caving in!" the Doctor agreed panicked.

Shepard started muttering angrily and brought a finger to her earpiece. "Joker! Get the Normandy prepped and ready for takeoff! Tali, finish what you're doing and get aboard!"

"Aye, aye Commander!" both replied in unison over the radio comm.

"Not much margin for error," Kaidan added looking at Shepard.

"If we die in here, I'llll kill him," Wrex deadpanned behind us.

Several more seconds, and by the mercy of god, we reached the top. The elevator indicated this particular fact by coming to a sudden stop, causing us all to lose our balance. Kaidan was the first to recover from the spill and first to indicate we had more trouble coming our way besides the coming cave-in.

"We've got company. Big company."

Looking up from where I lay, I was able to watch a Krogan saunter into view with a full squadron of Geth behind him from our only exit out.

_I really need to plan ahead for these missions. I totally forgot about you._

The Krogan looked a sickly green and had a malicious smile on his leathery face as he stopped in front of us. "Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun."

Getting back up to our feet, Wrex was surprisingly the first one to respond to the Krogan's challenge. "Tanok. I'm not surprised to see you working for Saren you son of a Varren," Wrex growled.

"HA! Wrex! Of all the people I'd have thought to find here, you would be the last. Have you fallen so low that you've had to resort to having Humans for a Krantt?"

"You know each other?" Shepard said from behind me. I glanced back to find her already brandishing a shotgun.

"Unfortunately," Wrex said not breaking eye contact with Manok.

"I should say the same," the Krogan remarked.

_...what the hell is going on._

"Of course only you would oppose the salvation Saren offered all Krogan. The coward who killed his own kin in the Hollows. He who spat on the place of our anc -"

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL IT WASN'T ME WHO SPIT ON THE ANCESTORS THAT DAY!" Wrex raged, shaking the room almost as much as the cave-in was. Apparently it was a touchy subject.

"Oh? Then how did he die that day then? I suppose Jarrod stabbed himself," Ranok remarked sarcastically.

_I don't know for SURE if I ever took Wrex to Therum but I know for a FACT that this conversation is not in the game-_

The walls shook around us again and caused me to fall to my knee.

_Oh JESUS. _

I glanced up to find Wrex now pointing his scimitar toward Sanok's face.

_We're really living on a prayer here guys. We don't have time-_

I noticed my Omni-tool flash over my hand, and soon became confused as I heard a synthetic voice come on over my earpiece.

_**(**Continuing Playtrack 21...Music by Artist Bon Jovi. Livin' On A Prayer. (C) 1986 The Island Def Jam Music Group.**)**_

* * *

Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer (Turn to 2:40 if you feel like singing along)

* * *

I shook my head.

_Wait wha-_

I then made the next mistake of blinking for all of a second and then...chaos.

Wrex had attacked Kanok with all his might and now a massive amount of weapons fire broke out across the exposed lift.

_**(**Whoooooaaaa**)**_

The kinetic barrier around me immediately dropped.

_**(**We're Halfway theeeere**)**_

I jumped backwards and found myself roll behind the Prothean console of the elevator, which was the only safe spot amidst the ongoing maelstrom.

**(**_Whooooaa_**)**

A Geth peeked around a column on my left.

_Fuck._

_**(**Liiiiiivin' on a Prayer**)**_

I quickly pulled the trigger of my gun at it. Then, I made eye-contact with Liara who was taking cover with Kaidan behind a pillar further back.

_**(**Take My Hand-**)**_

Following my instincts, I jumped up to my feet and made a mad dash toward them.

I decided to never trust them again when I suddenly felt a bullet fly through my shoulder.

_**(**-we'll make it I sweeeear**)**_

The excruciating pain caused me to trip over myself onto the ground.

_ffffffFU**CK.**_

_**(**Whooooooaaa**)**_

I lay there writhing on the ground when I saw Shepard violently fly into another column several feet away next. She collapsed to the floor limply.

_**(**LIVIN ON A PRAYER**)**_

_Oh FU**CK**_.

_**(**LIIIVIN ON A PRAYEEER**)**_

With all the grace of a newborn giraffe, I forced myself up and sprinted towards her, only noticing that Lanok was now doing the exact same. Only with his head down. Actually, he wasn't really sprinting per se. He was in fact, charging.

**(**_Oh, we've gotta hoooold on_**)**

I was already leaping off the ground as I noticed however, too late to make a difference as always, and slammed headlong into Yanok.

**(**_Ready or not-_**)**

Noticing me out of the corner of his eye too, the Krogan swung his arm back, sending me careening back towards the center of platform. However, he ended up staggering backwards with the action too. Which stopped his charge. Lucky me. He then turned his attention my way in response. Not lucky me.

**(**_You live for the fight-_**)**

He raised his claymore.

_Shit-how do I do that Adrenaline Rush thing-_

My vision widened and narrowed at the same time while everything else turned sepia.

_Ok._

**(**_When it's**-**_**)**

I watched as the Krogan's fingers tightened around his gun. Only at an extremely slow rate.

_Woah. _

_**(**it's**)**_

I raised my Predator toward his head plate.

**(**_all_**)**

His eyes widened with the speed of my draw.

_**(**that**)**_

I pulled the trigger three times. And he still hadn't finished pulling the one he had started.

**(**_you've_**)**

Then steam started slowly streaming from my gun. The Krogan's bewildered face started to slowly turn into a devilish grin at that exact moment.

_Roll away! Cover your eyes! Go-_

**(-**_ot!_**)**

Out of nowhere Wrex hit him like a freight train and Panok's shot gun was sent spinning out of his hands, shooting into the air.

**(**_*beat*_**)**

As I lay on the floor frozen, my vision returned to normal.

_**(**-whoooooooaaaaa**)**_

_Get up._

**(**_We're halfway theeeere_**)**

I obliged and rose to my feet. I saw Shepard doing the same thing while holding her head.

_**(**Whoooooa**)**_

Then Ashley came running toward us, simultaneously returning fire at the remaining Geth in front of the exit.

**(**_Liviiiiiing on a Prayer_**)**

I popped my thermal sink out and the next one in the magazine loaded.

**(**_Liiiiivin_**)**

I emptied as many rounds as I could at the Geth from where I was standing.

**(**_Oooooon_**)**

Garrus rolled out from where Kaidan and Liara were taking cover and got a head shot on the last Geth standing.

**(**_Aaaaaaaaaa_**)**

One of the giant metal columns collapsed onto our platform causing the whole thing to tilt.

_**(**Praaaaayeeeeer!**)**_

_**(***wicked guitar solo***)**_

"TIME TO GO!" Wrex yelled coming out from where he had tackled Zanok.

"Song off Please" I cried as I ran after everyone out of the room. Boulders and stalactites were falling like rain drops. Like large, heavy, _lethal_ rain drops. The whole cavern was definitely coming down around us now.

"I don't think we're going to make it!" Ashley shouted sprinting ahead of me, swiftly dodging the falling rubble.

"Then run faster!" Wrex shouted back, barreling ahead of us all.

As the caboose of our escape train, I was the only one who noticed Shepard was not running at her usual pace. Ashley actually overtook her as we got to the floor of the tunnel's entrance. And it was at this point I realized Shepard was still out of it from getting thrashed by that Krogan. My eyes widened further than they already were as I spotted a boulder now falling where the teetering Commander was.

_OH GOD WHY-_

I kicked myself into overdrive. Summoning the little strength I had left, I charged towards her and gave a mighty leap off the ground, simultaneously pulling my legs back. Then, orienting my legs mid-air toward her direction, I launched them as hard as I could at her back. Which sent her flying forward. Out from under the rock and preventing her from becoming a pancake. I landed unceremoniously back on the ground with my butt in the air, barely retracting my extremities in time to avoid being crushed by the same said falling rock.

Of course, Shepard got up first and whipped around to me in a fury. But when the realization hit that I had just saved her life though, her face showed...a little less of it. Which was enough for me. While she just stood there, I quickly got up and hurtled the debris between us, deciding to cooly add "JESUS CHRIST RUN!" as I flew by.

I had never sprinted so hard in my life as I ran down that final stretch of the cave.

Outside of the ruins, I could now see our ticket out. The Normandy's ramp was already lowered for us, but now unfortunately had a considerable distance from the mine's scaffolding, having drifted too far away for us to simply walk onto. But of course. Didn't want to make this too easy.

Having exited the mine shaft without slowing, I leaped with all the grace of a gazelle onto the garage's ramp. I personally believe I made an Olympic record with the distance I cleared. I mean, it was at least a good yard. Shepard quickly did the same behind me, except with not as much style. Obviously. I'm sure no one on the ship had my unique flair for such a thing. In any case, once we were safely aboard the Normandy, Kaidan yelled "Now!" into his radio and the Normandy lurched forward. And I stumbled backwards onto my butt as it made to leave.

And I now felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, lungs about to burst. Heaving, I purveyed the garage, drinking in the relief that everyone else had made it back safe and sound. Ashley was slapping Kaidan on the back who was doubled over in exhaustion; Liara was holding her hands over her chest looking like she was about to keel over and die; and Tali and Wrex were supporting Garrus as he had apparently taken some injuries of his own in the skirmish.

_Well. At least it looks like we all made it._

I let out a nervous laugh with how close we had just come to death and turned to my side to see how Shepard was doing. Only she wasn't there.

I snapped back around to see a hand hanging onto the ramp now lifting shut.

I dived forward as it disappeared over the edge. Half my body was dangling off the ramp when my hand caught Shepard's arm.

This was the first time I had ever visibly seen fear on her face. And it scared me. When Commander Shepard fears for their life, you better damn well too. Although, to be honest, it was probably just due to the fact that her life was now lying in my hands.

Oh.

I lay there grunting, trying to pull her up to no avail. A millisecond passed and the ramp had already become halfway closed. And with the rate it was closing, I was quickly sliding back into the garage, barely being able to keep my grip onto Shepard still on the other side. If she didn't get inside the ship by the time it shut, worst case scenario was that I would probably lose my left hand. And that Shepard would fall to her death. Which I guess would be pretty bad too.

"Shepard! Kick off!"

"What?!" she yelled back.

"USE YOUR BIOTICS and KICK!" I shouted as the ramp was now almost two-thirds of the way closed. As I tried to pull with my right arm too, it suddenly started acting like a bitch again, sending a fresh wave of pain to my brain. It was acting like it had been shot or something. Oh wait.

I almost let her go due to the agony.

_FUCKING BULLETS SHIT-_

"JOKER LOWER THE RAMP!" I heard Kaidan shout into the radio below us.

_OH NOW THEY WANT TO HELP-_

"What? What's Wrong!? I can't stop it once it's started!" his voice sounded over the comm.

_That's a horrible design oversight! Fuck fuck fuck-_

There was now a gap barely wide enough for a Krogan to fit through. But at that moment, I suddenly felt Shepard become peculiarly light. I also felt her give a push off the other side of the ramp. In response, I decided to yank her hand toward me as hard as I could, and propelled myself back off the giant sheet of metal in between her and me. Getting enough inertia...momentum...or enough whatever, I'm not a physicist here, Shepard was miraculously pulled through whatever remaining space there was back into the Normandy's cargo space. And we both fell at least eight feet back to the floor beneath us. I hit the ground hard and my head followed a second later with a sickening crack.

_OW._

I was afraid I had just died. I lay there dazed for a good while before even trying to open my eyes.

And deigning to take another few seconds for them to adjust, I finally decided to pry them open.

Only I didn't find the ceiling of the Normandy's garage above me.

Everything above, and in fact, around me, was black.

Actually, you know what, scratch that.

I think I _had_ just died.

The pain in my shoulder and shortness of breath were gone. I also felt weightless.

Not good signs.

I looked down to my feet only to find I was floating. Again. And on cue, a blue glimmer started to shine behind me.

_Oh thank god_.

Although it took some effort, I was eventually able to maneuver myself around to fully face the talent window.

Skill Rank (0-7)

Pistol - 2

Shotguns - 0

Assault Rifles - 0

Sniper Rifles - 0

Adrenaline Rush - 1

First Aid - 0

Electronics - 0

Decryption - 0

Fitness - 0

Combat Mastery - 0

Persuasion - 3 (*Locked*)

*Locked*

_Available Points: 3_

"So..."

The window flickered.

"Do you show up after every mission I go on?...Or just the ones I perform well in?"

The light emanating from it wavered.

"Do I just get points for every priority mission we do? Do I even get XP? Is this actually even a 'level-up'?"

It flickered again.

I took a deep breath.

"Sigh."

* * *

She paced back and forth waiting for the rest of the shore party to enter the room. It had been several hours since they had exited the planet's orbit.

Garrus was the next to enter after Wrex. She hadn't expected him to attend.

"Shouldn't you still be nursing those bug bites in the Med bay?" Wrex asked in her stead.

"Who me? Naaah. Back on my beat in the Wards, I've been shot at more times than I can count. This? This is nothing," he replied pointing to his hip. "Although the recent missions we've been going on have been giving my time in the Wards, as you Humans say ,'a run for its money'."

Garrus' bravado wasn't as convincing as he would like since he had winced throughout the entirety of the exchange. She respected that he grinned and bore the pain though. The Turian had actually come off the luckiest of those who had been injured.

Emerson had similar injuries to Shield but had been hit in a vital artery. He had lost a lot of blood by the time they had gotten him back on the Normandy. They weren't able to get him Medi-gel as most of it had been already used on Fredricks.

_Fredricks._

And Fredricks had stupidly left cover and gotten hit badly, having to be placed in ICU although Chakwas claimed his condition had now stabilized. Third-degree burns and exposed muscles could be easily spotted around the area that had been hit by the Geth Artillery's mass accelerator.

Now Kaidan walked in, escorting the Asari Doctor to her seat as he did.

_And then...there's what had happened to Shield. _

Nothing she expected or planned for had happened during the mission. The Doctor had been there like they were told. There was no indication that Wrex or Shield ever conspired against them. No hint that they or the Broker was working with Saren. No betrayal in the ruins. No nothing.

Shield had instead saved her life-

_Twice. _

-and now lied with a cracked skull in Chakwas' care, most likely brain dead. While they weren't life threatening, several tears in his armor's right shoulder and arm were caked with blood, not helping his case either.

The loss of soldiers during an operation was inevitable-

_People die. Soldiers need to be ready to._

-but no matter how often she repeated it, their deaths still weighed heavy on her conscious. She hated to admit it. And she wouldn't if asked.

She always made sure to put on a fake face and project that she didn't in front of her troops. Never had with any of her units. And she couldn't.

As a commanding officer, she couldn't show any sign of weakness.

But despite everything...she couldn't lie to herself.

The Quarian walked into the room next with a data pad.

She thought after Torfan that she would have become indifferent to losing men. That hopeful thinking was proven wrong with the Corporal's death on Prime. She hadn't lost anyone since the siege and his death hit her harder than she would have thought. Even after all her years after enlistment, as an officer, even after Torfan...she couldn't ignore the feeling of guilt she got when the people under her command were lost. When they died because of her.

_And after this mission, Fredricks and Shield would be lucky if they made it through the next hour..._

She stopped pacing as Chief Williams entered. She was the last one needed for the brief. Shepard slowly began to open her mouth to speak before Joker's voice boomed across the room.

"Hey Commander?" Shepard turned her head towards the Normandy's intercom, not that it was particularly visible to anyone in the room. "Just wanted to say sorry again for the whole almost causing you to fall to your death thing. Glad to hear you're alright. Killing my CO probably wouldn't look too great on my record."

She sighed. "Just don't try it again."

"Weeeell, pick your poison. Ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't quite equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. Tell me which you'd prefer though. Just for future reference."

_Cheeky bastard._

"We almost died today and your pilot is making jokes?"

She turned her head down towards their newest guest. "Joker pulled our asses out of there. Bad decision-making aside, I think he's earned the right to a few bad jokes."

"I see...it must be a Human thing. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species Commander. But I am grateful to you. You saved my life back there. And not just from the volcano. Those Geth would have killed me. Or dragged me off to that Spectre...Saren."

"What did Saren want with you? Do you know something about the Conduit?" Kaidan asked with urgency.

"What Saren might have wanted? No, I don't-"

"Of course she doesn't," Ashley facetiously cut her off.

Shepard gave a sharp look at the Marine. Williams decided to keep the rest of her opinion to herself and simply turned her head away.

"Doctor T'soni. Are you sure you don't know anything about the Conduit?"

Shepard turned back around to find the Asari peering into her eyes.

The Asari then took a breath before continuing. "Only that it was somehow linked with the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the past fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them."

"...I'm sorry...fifty years?"

"Um, yes. That is correct."

"...How old are you exactly?"

"I hate to admit it but I am only a hundred and six-"

"Damn! I hope I look that good when I'm your age," the Chief burst out of turn again.

"A century might seem like a long time to a short-lived species as yours. But to the Asari, I am barely considered more than a child."

"Must suck when you don't live longer than a Varren."

Shepard glared at the Krogan from the corner of her eye as the Asari prattled on.

"That is why my research has not received the attention it deserves! Because of my youth, other Asari scholars tend to dismiss my theories on the Protheans."

_Yeah...that's why._

Shepard didn't fail to reflect on her minute understanding of the Prothean ruins back on Therum.

"We already have a pretty solid idea of how the Protheans died."

"Really? With all due respect Commander, I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them. The Protheans left remarkably little behind. It's almost as if someone did not want the mystery to be solved. It's like someone came along after the Protheans were gone and cleansed the Galaxy of clues!"

Her observation heavily supported the vision she received from the beacon. The vision that haunted her ever time she slept.

_The Reapers._

"-ble part. According to my findings, the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish! This act of suddenly 'disappearing' had begun long before them."

"And how did you come up with this theory? I thought you just said there wasn't any evidence?" Shepard decided to point out.

"I have been working on this for fifty years. I have tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence. Eventually, subtle patterns emerge. Patterns that hint at this!" If she hadn't come into contact with the Beacon back on Prime, she'd probably have suspected the Asari insane, some kind of fringe scientist or conspiratorial nut job. "It's hard to explain. I cannot point to one specific thing. It is more of a feeling derived from half a century of dedicated research." Scratch that, she still did. Shepard could easily see why her findings had been dismissed by her peers. The Asari was finding imaginary conspiracies easier than a candidate for Terra Firma would. Although in the end...the Asari still happened to be right.

"-I know I'm right! And eventually, I'll be able to prove it. There were other civilizations before the Protheans. This cycle of vanishing has repeated for many times over!"

Shepard was getting tired of her egotism real fast. "Get to the point."

"Uh...the Galaxy is built on what I've termed 'A Cycle of Extinction'. Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down. Only ruins survive. The Protheans rose from a single world until their influence spanned the Galaxy. Yet even they climbed atop of the remains of those who came before. I believe...that their greatest achievements, the Citadel and Mass Relays...are based on the technology of those who came before them."

"You've got quite a theory there Dr. T'soni," Shield suddenly spoke as he shambled through the door.

"You're alive?" the Krogan asked with blatant indifference.

"Last I checked?...Ayup," he replied taking a seat next to Williams.

"Huh."

"Dr. Chakwas told me your skull was caved in. You shouldn't be conscious," she found herself saying in disbelief.

"Just decided to take a quick nap," he said back, waving a hand like the fracture to his skull had been nothing. "Thought I should probably get myself up though for this debrief. Thought you'd probably kick my ass if I missed it."

Shepard found herself uncharacteristically smirking. "Right."

Shield's eyes grew wide with fear in response. Shepard was quickly reminded that her smile was said to be a tad off-putting.

Shield then quickly turned towards the Asari. "Please, don't stop on my account."

"...Well. As I was saying...after they reached the height of their civilization...the Protheans vanished too. I've dedicated my work to finding out why."

At that point, she decided to tell the Asari what she was searching for.

"Well Doctor, I have the answer for you. I don't know about the rest of your theory, but we know the Protheans were wiped out by a race of machines. The Reapers."

"Th-The Reapers? But their just- How do you know this? What evidence do you have?"

She frowned at the Asari's incredulity. "There was a damaged beacon on Eden Prime that engraved a vision into my head. I'm still trying to sort out what it means."

"The Geth seem to believe in the story of these Reapers too," Tali added quietly beside her.

"It's interesting that the Geth-wait...You said a...vision?...Yes, that makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit information into the mind of the user. Finding one that works though is unheard of!"

"Lucky us Commander," Shield quipped.

"I heard the Geth attacked Eden Prime...and that must've been the reason why! The chance to acquire a working beacon, even a damaged one, is worth almost any risk!"

"I'm glad _You_ think so," Ashley growled.

The Asari was obviously not tactful. Talking about Eden Prime like the destruction and death there was warranted-

"I didn't- I'm sorry. It's just that...this discovery is incredible! The beacon was only programmed for Prothean physiology. No wonder what you received was so confused, so unclear." The Asari flitted her eyes. "I am amazed you were able to make sense of it at all! A lesser mind would have totally been destroyed by the process-"

Shepard looked at Shield and doubted that assumption.

"-you must be remarkably strong-willed Commander!"

"This isn't helping us find the Conduit, or Saren," Garrus interjected.

"Of course, you're right," she said turning to the Turian next to her. "My scientific curiosity got the better of me. Unfortunately, I do not have any information that could help you find this Conduit...or Saren."

"If she was working with her mother or Saren, of course she'd say that," Ashley said, finally voicing her concerns.

Shepard disagreed with her.

The Asari's posture and tone hadn't indicated she was hiding anything when they first met. And as soon as she had first opened her mouth, Shepard could tell she didn't even have the skills necessary to lie. Her poor social skills were apparent with that comment made moments earlier. In fact, the Doctor seemed taxed with just trying to keep up a regular conversation.

"I-I haven't seen my mother in years! I-"

"Doctor." The Asari closed her mouth as Shepard turned to the Chief. "Williams, cool it."

"Sorry Commander," the marine quietly responded.

She let out a sigh before continuing. "Well...it looks like we wasted our time here. Thank you for your cooperation Doctor."

Before she was dismissed, the Asari popped out of her seat and started talking a mile a minute. "Wait Commander! Saren might try to make another attempt on my life! I'd feel safer if you'd let me stay on your ship! Besides, my knowledge on the Protheans could come quite in handy later!"

Shepard furrowed her brows.

_This is coming out of thin air. The Doctor showed no signs she wanted anything to do with us until just now. If she really is working for her mother and Saren then..._

"And her biotics will come in handy during the fight. Her barrier saved me from getting blown to bits back in those ruins," Garrus added.

"It'll be the right move Shepard," Shield also affirmed.

_The fact that Shield was also advocating that the scientist join them-...no. _

Garrus had suggested she would be a good addition first. Unless he was also in on this conspiracy, they were just voicing their opinions.

And Shield could have killed her. But he didn't. He wasn't their enemy.

_But what if you're wrong?_

The decision could jeopardize the safety of her crew and the entire mission. But so did her current paranoia.

_Let her prove herself like the rest._

"We practically have every citadel race aboard. Might as well add an Asari to the team," Shepard decided to concede nonchalantly.

"Oh...well, thank you Commander! I am very grate-" The Asari suddenly teetered a bit.

Shield hopped out of his chair to catch her.

"Woah, you alright?" he asked.

"I'm sorry...I...I'm afraid I'm feeling a little light-headed."

"When was the last time you ate or slept?" Kaidan babied her. Shepard slowly turned to face him with disdain. He seemed unaware of it "Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."

"It's probably just mental exhaustion, coupled with discovering the Prothean's true fate. I just need a moment to process all this."

"Go see the Doctor," Shepard gruffly replied.

"I'll take you to her," Shield offered. Shepard let them leave together.

_If they really are working together..._

"Anyone else have something they'd like to add?" she said cutting into her line of thought.

"Yes Commander!" Tali piped up.

She turned to the Quarian in surprise. "Find something?"

"Yes! Something I think you'll really want to see Commander," the Quarian said excitedly.

"Give it to me."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**The Good News being that I finally published the chapter and with this, Therum Part 2 comes to a close! The Bad News is that it would've been out sooner if it wasn't for that darn wedding this weekend. More Good News though is that I also got a brand new computer. SWAG. Bad News is that I lost the entirety of the next chapter I had written. Was about 3/4 done too :( ...so might be awhile before the next one comes out. Weekly updates might have to be a thing I guess. If I had the time, I'm tellin' ya, we would be on Virmire right now...or I can wish at least.**

**And with regards to the actual story,**** one might ask: "Are random song lyrics in the story going to actually be a thing?"**

**Maybe.**

**Yes.**

**In the Next Chapter: Lots and lots of free time. Or not.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	13. Building Bonds with Bunkmates

"Commander, Are you sure that data's genuine?"

Joker could hear Pressly's nasally voice all the way from the CIC. He was in the freakin' cock pit and he could still hear the dude.

_Ugh...cockpit._

God did he hate that word.

_Alliance ships have bridges. Asari have cock-_

Pressly kept ranting, elaborating on his complaint to Shepard. Joker liked Turians as much as the next guy but the dude had a serious distrust for aliens, especially with the ones Shepard had brought aboard. To be honest, he kind of just resembled one of those lunatics over at the Terra Firma Party. But unfortunately, Joker was pretty sure the rest of the crew felt that way too.

"Pressly, the transmission logs Tali'Zorah recovered ARE genuine. I saw the Geth data core she retrieved them from with my own eyes."

That seemed to quiet the Navigator. Although you'd have to be a mad man to really challenge Shepard's decisions.

The grizzled voice of the Fifth Fleet's admiral came back over the ship's comm next.

"There have been sightings of the Geth in the Armstrong Cluster. But we thought they were just lone wolves. If these logs are anything to go on, then the Geth are actually planning to stage a full scale incursion right in the middle of Alliance space. We need to further verify this information...but if its true...Commander. If we didn't catch this, a lot of good people would have been lost."

"That's why I thought this should be brought to your attention sir."

"And I'm glad it was. As soon as Command approves it, I'll send in the Fifth fleet to mop up whatever operations the Geth have set up in the region. And Commander...Good work. A lot of people owe you their lives today."

"Thank you sir."

"I do have another favor to ask Commander. A mission that I'm only willing to trust to you."

"What's the Op?"

"Hey Joker!"

He flailed when he heard the voice. In fact, he thought he might have snapped one of his arms with how strongly he jerked it back. He slowly turned around, leaning out of his chair to face her, not failing to nurse his arm as he did so.

"What."

Rosey looked back at him obliviously. "Can you take a look at our internal compensators? I think I just saw some spikes there but it might be something else entirely…"

"Ugh," Joker groaned, quickly turning off the comm-link tuning him into the Commander's brief. He just had to do everything around here didn't he?

* * *

_Why do you think you had to do that?_

I banged my head against the elevator wall.

_So stupid. Agh, that whole thing was stupid. I regret everything._

The whole mind meld plot hadn't really hit me until I had already taken a seat in the conference room.

_Could an Asari read minds when they embraced eternity with you? Do they even go through your memories when they do?_

It was an extremely high risk to take. The whole thing would have been a big no-no. I can only thank god Liara didn't ask for one. From me or Shepard. And thankfully no one mentioned that I had received the vision too.

_Don't need her thinking I was insane or vice-versa if she ever did that to me...which she won't._

Then my mind wandered back to the experience I had just moments before. And I cringed again.

Offering to walk her to Chakwas had been a split second decision. She had fainted and like a gentleman, I offered to help her down. Obviously because I'm the walking spirit of chivalry of course. But it turned out to be a horrible decision. We didn't say a single word to each other on the way down, or not until we actually got to the Med bay at least. In fact, the walk down was so silent that I had to check back a couple times to see if she was still behind me. Then, once we actually got there of course, Chakwas started chastising me for sneaking out of the room and tells me to get back in bed like I was a child.

_So not cool. _

Super uncool. And then I immediately turned around to leave right as Liara asked me what my name was. I literally stopped in the doorway when I heard her finally speak. I stood there for a good awhile, paralyzed by indecision for what seemed like an eternity. Awkward stuff I'll tell you hwat. Although it was honestly more like five seconds. Though that is still a pretty long time. So anyway, there I was, awkwardly standing in the doorway of Chakwas' med bay, with the old woman telling me to get back in bed, and the other simply asking for my name and not receiving an answer. So what did I do you might ask? I just decided to pretend like I didn't hear either of them and sprinted on out. Sprinted.

_ I should have said it. Why didn't I say it? Why did I just walk out? Why? Why'd I do that? Such a weirdo move...you weirdo. Oh my god._

I hit my head against the wall again as I ran back over the scenario. Offered to walk her down for a medical check-up to get away from Shepard's mission briefing. Walked down in complete silence to it. Get lambasted by an old woman as soon as I walk in. Then walk back out when she tries to learn my name. Hell, she probably thinks I'm a racist-

_Or speciest?_

-Human like the rest. Her first impression of me was probably worse than the one I gave Shepard back on Eden Prime.

_And oh my god. When Shepard gave me that grin. She looked like she was about to go ape shit crazy. What did I even say to her?!_

I honestly couldn't even remember. All I could really remember now was that creepy ass smile that had crept across her face. How insidious it looked. Like something from a horror movie. I rolled my shoulders anxiously, still waiting for the elevator doors to open.

_Is this elevator even moving?!_

I took a quick look around the room before groaning. I realized I hadn't even pushed the elevator button to go down. I rubbed my temples with one hand as I actually pressed the button with the other.

_Maybe I do need to get back in my head. Bed. Get back in bed. Oh my god._

A couple minutes later and the elevator doors slid open. I let out a sigh of relief too as I found the garage empty. Although I had taken a short detour after leaving Chakwas' office, it appeared no one had beaten me down here yet. I thanked my luck as I wasn't quite in the mood for dealing with anyone else at the moment. I was most assuredly certainly not in the mood to beg Ashley on letting me borrow her weapon bench either. She spent most of her time on the ship there, working on our weapons almost religiously, rarely leaving anyone else space to do their own thing on it. Now was probably the only time I had to use it.

Leaving the elevator, I did notice someone present in the hangar on my right.

_Oh, just Requisitions Officer Dan...he practically lives in that corner. Just like Ashley does at the bench..._J_ust like they both do in the game._

He currently had his back turned to me, digging through some of his crates. I decided to leave him be, continuing on to my destination.

Stopping in front of the bench, I unclipped my predator from its holster and placed it down on the table. I then unfastened the cartridge on my belt, laying it to next to my gun. Now, with both components on the table, I pulled up my Omni-tool and searched "How to mod your gun". When Kaidan informed me what I had picked up from a crate back on Therum was for modding rounds, I had been itching for the chance to use them.

Armor Piercing rounds. They would make killing Geth so much easier than it already was. And I could really use the edge. Any edge.

I looked down at my Omni-tool as it finished its search on the Extranet. Just several hundred million results. I clicked the first one.

"Step one. Get gun. Step two. Come to Moglan's store and purch-"

*click*

"If you want to modify your gun like a professional, learn how by buying this easy five step-"

*click*

"Armax Arsenal Stores will help you acquire whatever you need and personally mod your firearms for just-"

*click*

"My coworkers laughed at me. My mate said I couldn't do it. But with Daenus' Urban Arena Che-"

*click*

"Ooooh, put your mod right there-"

*click*

I closed my omni-tool. I stood and stared at my pistol and the tungsten coating cartridge sitting next to it for a good long while.

_Well then...now what._

I decided to pick up my gun and look for any spot a mod could fit in.

_This was so much easier in the game. You just had to push square. Mods switched out instantly. Took one second to do. Just like that. Boom. One and done._

Examining the pistol, I couldn't even see where the screws might be...if they even still _used_ screws in the 22nd century. I put it back down on the table and scratched my stubbled chin.

_Guess I'll just have to wait-_

My spidey senses suddenly tingled, and I looked over my left shoulder in response. I found a face inches away, staring back at me.

"GAH," I said jumping.

"Woah, didn't mean to make you shit your pants," Ashley said stepping back with a grin.

I narrowed my eyes at her in response. "Yeah thanks for that," I muttered.

"No really. Didn't mean to sneak up on you. Just wanted to see-" She peeked over my shoulder again. "-what you were so focused on over here."

_Hm...I GUESS it couldn't hurt to ask._

"Hey...Ashley...could you say that you're good with...guns?"

She crossed her arms. "I can take apart any Hahne-Kedar model you give me and reassemble it in under a minute. _With_ my eyes closed," she boasted.

"Oh...Well. In that case, do you think you could lend me a hand with installing this mod because..."

She pushed me aside and took a look at the pistol laying in front of me. She picked it up and lifted it towards the ceiling.

"What type of model is this?" she asked turning it around.

"M-3 Predator," I replied. Then I realized it was ahead of her time. About two years ahead.

_She definitely won't know how to take that apart. Or why my weapon has technology that won't be seen until two years from now. WAIT. Why DO I have technology two years from now?!_

That revelation hit me like a freight train.

"Not familiar," she said continuing to inspect it. "What's this port here?" she asked again, pointing to the rectangle in the gun's side.

"Oh that? Uuuuhh...that's where the heat sink's ejected from."

I glanced around nervously.

She then turned her attention away from the gun. And the look on her face was really judgmental. I didn't care for it.

"It ejects its heat sink?"

"Uhhhhh, yeah."

"Why the hell does your gun eject its heat sink?"

"Yeah. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

The new voice consisting of gravel caused me to jump. Again. I turned around to now find Wrex walking toward us from the Mako.

_Where the hell did you come from?!_

"Woah, where did you come from?" Ashley subsequently asked. "Didn't Shepard want to see you?"

"She was in the middle of a call so I decided to take a nap in that sorry excuse for a Tomkah until she was done."

"You were sleeping in the Mako?" I asked with disbelief.

"Your beds are too small." He looked around. "And I'm not sleeping on the floor. I'm a Krogan. Not a Varren."

"Uh-huh," Ashley replied skeptical, although I don't know what of. Then she turned back to me. "So why haven't you fixed this yet."

"Fixed what?"

"Your shitty gun," Wrex said for her, although I didn't really appreciate his tone.

"It's part of the design," I said in my defense.

"What? Part of its design to get you killed?" Wrex said dryly.

"Yeah, didn't that Krogan back on Therum almost end you because your gun overheated?" Ashley decided to point out.

Wrex's reptilian face scowled at the mention of Janok.

"That's because I forgot to reload," I admitted while sheepishly rubbing my neck.

"With a real gun, you don't need to reload," Wrex replied coarsely.

"And you never let your gun overheat in the first place," Ashely said, not failing to add her own two cents.

They were really bashing on my shitty gun. And I wouldn't stand for it. Only ME fans can bash on ME2's shitty guns.

_You mofos didn't even give the slightest objection to swapping this shit for every gun in existence two years from now._

"Well that was the point of the gun's design," I said starting to get annoyed.

"It was made to overheat?" Ashley scoffed.

"Uh yeah-"

"What the hell is the point of the gun if it can't even shoot?"

"Well-"

"Why the hell would you want to eject a gun's heatsink?"

"To-"

"It's like you want to be killed."

"No, its-"

"How do your hands not burn without a built-in heat dispenser? Doesn't four shots generate like 100 C° for the standard sidearm?"

"If you guys let me finish, I could tell you!" I shouted, cutting off Wrex who was just about to say another smart ass remark.

"I mean who the hell would even make a gun like that?" Ashley decided to continue.

_Ooh. Good question. Well...when in doubt_-

"The Shadow Broker. And before you two start again, I just want to make sure that you realize the limitations of a conventional rifle. You said yourself that a trained soldier would never let their gun overheat in combat right?"

"Yeah..." Ashley affirmed.

"So even though you have unlimited ammo, you still only shoot a couple shots at a time because if you spray and pray, you'll just end up a sitting duck."

"What the hell's a duck," the Krogan said irritably.

"Uh...a defenseless creature...like a Pyjak."

"Ah."

"Right. So..."

_Argh, what was my next poin-oh right!_

"And you guys noticed how the Geth back in that quarry were pinning you guys down right?"

"...yeah. I still don't know how they kept up that fire-"

"Because of this!" I said taking my gun back and tapping the hole. "The Geth use these dispensable heat sinks too. That's where the Broker got the concept," I said adding to my lie.

"And when exactly did you guys come across Geth weaponry?" Ashley questioned.

"...it's a secret," I said waving it off. "ANYWAY, the entire point is that instead of using your ammo in short, disciplined bursts, you can spray away. So once your gun overheats, you can immediately just pop out its heat sink, let it automatically reload, and keep firing."

"Hmmm," the Krogan guttered thinking this over.

"And what happens if you run out of those heat sinks to use?" Ashley asked.

"Well...yeah, then you'd be out of luck," I said conceding that point to her. I had been thinking about that constantly after our fire fight. From my current prediction, the Predator only had about 10-14 shots per clip.

_I grabbed 5 clips and used one before entering the mine. Then I fired at least 11 more times after I unloaded the one I used on that Krogan. Now if we don't run into Geth again anytime soon, that means I'll have-_

"So you'd be defenseless," Ashley said, cutting off my train of thought , still not convinced.

"Well, the same you'd be if a regular gun overheated. It still gets a higher rate of fire though with little to no backlash if you're keeping track of your shots and ammo."

Which I wasn't.

"I think I'll stick to my standard issue kessler," the marine decided.

"A dispensable heat sink huh..." pondered Wrex. The guy was definitely lost in thought.

_Well. They almost made me forgot what I came down here to do._

"In any case. Ashley. Think you can still help me with getting this mod into my gun?" I said, picking the mod back off the table. "Don't have the slightest clue how."

"Well if that thing's insides aren't too different from a Kessler, I might be able to."

_Good enough._

The sudden thought of losing my first and only weapon though made me rethink about asking her for help. The worries became moot as she took both gun and mod out of my hands and immediately started disassembling it. And I then decided I could only hope for the best. Wrex grunted in response to the conversation's end and began to walk away. While Ashley did me this solid, I realized now was my chance to simultaneously get close with the guy.

_Do I really want to though? What the hell's the point if I'm going to be gone by the end of the game?_

_...Because I'm bored._

"Hey Wrex," I said, choosing to catch up to him.

_Also because something happened that wasn't in the game. And it hadn't even concerned me. That needs serious investigation. How the hell did Wrex know that Krogan? And what had it been talking about. __And I guess I want to talk to Wrex because he's also a badass bitch. I mean...Motha Fuckin' Urdnot Wrex. Clan Urdnot Mothafucka!_

It was as good a time as any to start building a rapport with him. It might even help with avoiding whatever could go down on Virmire too. With my remark, he stopped and turned back around.

"Shield."

"If you don't mind me asking...how did you know that Krogan working for Saren?"

He bared his teeth at the mention of him. "He's dead. It doesn't matter now."

"I'd still like to know all the same."

He let out an animalistic growl in response. "You don't need to know and I don't quite feel like sharing."

His intimidating scowl almost deterred me from bugging him some more.

_Sooooo ok. Weird...this is like when I asked Kaidan about BAaT earlier too...Was it because I'm not Shepard? They gossiped like high school cheerleaders in the game whenever you asked them about this crap. Was it because it was Shepard talking to them they decided to open up? Oh my gosh...was it?!_

I tried to continue pressing my luck regardless.

"He said something about Saren being 'the salvation of all Krogan.' Do you have any idea what that was about?"

"No. But Tanok was always an idiot. Whatever Saren told him and the other Krogan following him is probably just a lie. They're just stupid enough to believe whatever he's saying."

_I'm pretty sure you came close to believing that on Virmire dude. _

But with that comment, I was dead sure that the salvation Vanok referred to was Saren's cure for the Genophage. Couldn't be anything else. But we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. I like to live in the here and now.

"I'm surprised that you killed him. You don't have any reservations about killing someone you know?" Ashley said suddenly butting in. She sounded pretty critical of him, but instead of team dynamics, I was more worried about the fact that she was no longer working on my modded gun.

"I didn't _know_ him. And besides, whoever we fight is either on Saren's payroll or an idiot. Killing the former is just business. Killing the latter is a favor to the universe. Luckily for us, he was both."

"Heh." Ashley let out a chuckle. "True."

"Williams. Wrex. Shield." I wheeled around to face Shepard who was just stepping out of the Normandy's elevator. "We're arriving at Sol in a few days. I need you all ready to go by then."

"Yes sir!" Ashley replied while saluting her.

_A new mission already? How-wait._ _Did she just say Sol?!_

* * *

**Several Hours Later.**

Grabbing a tray of provisions from the meal cart, I walked back to the dining table and took a seat. Besides Kaidan busily tapping away at his console doing god knows what, the mess hall was empty.

"That's him."

Or it had been. I was content to just eat my food in peace before two guys decided to plop themselves down in front of me. I figured they weren't here for lunch and shifted my attention away from the unappetizing meal below me.

"Uhhhh-"

"So you're Rod right?" the Asian looking one asked first.

"...yeah. I guess that would be me."

"So. What kind of stuff do you know about us?" the other one with auburn hair and a large grin across his face asked next.

"...I'm sorry?"

"You're the guy who works for the Shadow Broker right? The dude who can tell someone their life story from the top of his head?"

"...I _guess_?" I meekly replied seeing where this was heading.

"So...what do you have on us?" the first one who had spoken up asked.

"...I'm gonna have to know your names first," I lied hoping to get some clue about what I going to say next.

"Raymond Tanaka," he responded.

"Serviceman Robert Felawa, First Class," the red-haired guy to his left replied with pride.

"You're both...in the Alliance Military?"

"Dude how'd you know!" Felawa responded with a smile on his face.

"Really," Tanaka said plainly, obviously not as amused.

"I'm gonna be honest with you guys," I started to tell them. "I don't know everyone's story aboard the ship. I only know about people who've made enough of a...wave, I guess you could say. Most people don't get the Broker's attention unwarranted. To look up a specific person, I would have to have access to the network. Which I don't."

"Did you say...a wave?" Tanaka asked with skepticism. "Then how'd the hell you know so much about Joker? There's no way he's accomplished anything remotely close to be considered that."

"Well he is a reallllly good pilot," Felawa reasoned.

"Being just a 'good' pilot wouldn't get the attention of a man who deals with galactic leaders on a regular basis," Tanaka argued.

"I think stealing the Normandy kinda put him on the radar," I decided to say.

"He WHAT?!" they both exclaimed in unison.

"What, you didn't know?" I replied cheekily. "I'm sure if you ask him, he'll tell you. It's actually pretty hilarious. You see-"

"We've got about ten minutes left before our rotation right?"

"Yup! More than enough time!"

Felawa shouted a "Thanks!" as they jumped back up and ran around the hallway corner. I let out a sigh as they did, going back to quietly finishing my meal alone. There's more than just the crazy aliens to talk to on the ship I guessed. A couple more crewmen walked by but they weren't as interested in conversation, with most of them just stopping by the med bay to check on Emerson and Fredricks who were still in 'ICU'. I had seen Fredricks back when I was heading to Shepard's mission brief for Therum. His stomach looked ghastly. I had almost vomited seeing it. Emerson's wound was a little tamer and I could hear that he was already conscious from the room behind me, but it would probably be awhile before he was actually back up and walking.

I thanked whatever being that was watching over me that I hadn't ended up like them. It was miraculous how safely I had made it through my first mission. And with how dangerous it had been at that.

_Besides the bullet wound in my right shoulder that is. And my arm. And the fracture in my skull-HOLY SHIT. _

I started kneading my head. I went over my scalp several times before I was confident I didn't have any permanent damage. It didn't _feel_ caved in. And I didn't _feel_ like I was mentally stifled in any way.

_Or is that what someone who's mentally impaired would think?!_

I dismissed the thought as nobody else seemed to really think there was any change. Although that might be an insult if there was. In any case, the right side of my body felt fine despite the gunshots. And so did my head. No throbbing headaches after waking up or any serious migraines.

_Weird._

I didn't put any points into first aid so that had nothing to do with my recovery. Then I wondered for a second what that category was even for.

_How hard could it possibly be to apply medi-gel?_

In any case, I came to the conclusion that I apparently had an x-factor like Wolverine. Back when the Beacon apparently fractured a couple of my ribs, Chakwas said I would be fine within the week. How's that shit even possible? A fracture taking a week to heal? And I could tell there were no scabs from where I had been shot. Hell, I didn't even feel any discomfort from the wound. I'm pretty sure Doctor Chakwas hadn't given me any Vicodin before I left her office either.

_...spooky. I'll probably have to talk to Chakwas about that._

Then I remembered that Liara was currently staying in the room behind the med bay with her.

_...hm. Naw. It can wait._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Length of chapters vary. I know. This one only clocks in around 3,500 words. Should probably have split the last one with how monstrously long it was but I feel like the chapters should end on their 'arc' rather than word count. Tell me if you'd like them a little more piecemeal though.**

**Also, was able to recover the chapter that got deleted so finished the rest of that as soon as I could. Will release since these have been long overdue :) Happy Tuesday Morning gang and enjoy the rest of your week! Or whenever your read this. Ah who am I kidding. No one reads the Author Notes.**

**In the Next Chapter: There exists an area so unfathomably large that Humans simply refer to it as "space." And guess what? I'm in it suckas.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	14. The Lives Lost on Luna

Wonder. Inspiration. Awe.

Sentiments that should be occupying my every thought. My mind should be filled with a sense of wonder that I was walking upon a place that was the subject of so many dreams, so many wishes, and so many plots of science fiction. I should be inspired by the implications of where I currently was, what I was currently doing. My mind should be locked in a state of reverence, experiencing awe that billions of people had once wished to tread upon the soil I was walking on now.

I was freaking walking on the fucking moon. Of Earth. Earth's moon Luna. Armstrong. Aldrin. Buzz Lightyear. I was walking amongst the same rocks that Humanity's paragons had walked so many years before me. And did I actually appreciate any of these grandiose realizations/observations that one should in this given scenario?

No.

What I only felt was fear. A paralyzing fear. A palpable dread that coursed through every drop of blood and every bone in my body.

And was it due to the fact that with every half-trot and leap I drifted a foot into the air? Was it due to the haphazard way Shepard had strafed the bunker turrets in the Mako, maneuvering around six missiles at a time? Was it due to her order to split up and hit each bunker simultaneously to shut down the rogue VI and rescue the researchers that might still be alive and held hostage by the dozens of drones now active in the underground fortifications and the aforementioned change in the game's script and world building?!

No. Well...maybe a little of the latter.

We eclectic eight had made landing about fifteen minutes ago. Through craters and canyons, with rocket fire and kinetic barriers, by the scrapes of our necks were we able to park right in between the three Alliance compounds on Luna. Smack dab in the middle of a rogue AI's rampage.

When we were getting out of the rust bucket, Shepard had barked her orders. Three teams. Three simultaneous attacks. The destruction of the AI's three data cores. It wouldn't be able to process all our assaults at once. Or so it was assumed. Shepard, Tali, and Ashley. Wrex and Garrus. Kaidan, Liara and I. At least one biotic and techie per team. Easy job. Or at least it should be. Our only enemies were remote controlled drones.

And that's what was feeding my fear.

Every time this mission came around: no matter the career, the team make-up, the difficulty, the ability rotation, what buttons I pressed. I died. Shepard always died. Whether I took the cautious hide behind cover and return fire tactic. Run across the room to shut down the AI without shooting back at the turrets way. Luring them and killing them one by one in the narrow column connecting the main room with the entrance strategy. One missile drone would always get lucky and get a one shot KO on him/her.

A critical mission failure would pop up at LEAST once in one of the three compounds. Those mobile levitating missile dispensers always got a death. Deadliest mission in ME by far. Besides the final run on the Citadel with those...three Geth missile turrets.

_I'm starting to see a pattern here._

But in any case, that's why as I walked towards our designated compound, even with two biotics at my side, still terrified of what was about to go down.

_Would Shepard die like every single one of her predecessors did? Or would I be the one to die this time? Or would I get someone else killed in my place because of my ineptitude? Would our team of two, Garrus and Wrex, get obliterated by the robot onslaught without enough support?_

I didn't know. And I was scared that I was about to find out.

I found the walk to our designated bunker fairly short. I could hear a soft crunch with every step I took on the gravelly grey landscape beneath my feet. The circular cement bunker in front of me was little to look at, but the view above it was definitely incredible. A dark expanse filled with millions of stars. Half of Earth engulfed by the void. The small part of our planet I could see was beautiful. A glimpse of bright azure with a tip of green barely visible, with the rest of the view covered by wisps of white. It looked like it could be a part of South America. Maybe Argentina.

I realized I had stopped walking forward, and I looked back down to find Kaidan motioning to me. Trying to get me to continue onward, into the bunker. I gulped once before following him and Liara down.

The "waiting room" we entered was filled with an assortment of potted plants, lockers, and crates. Around a tall shelf in the middle of the room was a console for the door leading to the next. I decided to let Kaidan handle it, instead choosing to dig through one of the open lockers to my left. As soon as I found something of interest, Shepard's voice picked up over the radio.

"Alright, we just entered the processing center for our compound. We haven't come across any Alliance personnel yet. Alive or dead."

"Same here Commander," Kaidan replied.

"We-"

"Nothing's here. We're going ahead Shepard," Wrex interrupted Garrus.

"Alright. We're going to continue combing the room to see if we can find anything useful. If you're able to locate the VI's cores, do not try to shut it down remotely. I repeat, do not disable them remotely. It will infect your omni-tool and any other system you have in your suits."

"How are we supposed to shut em' off then?" Wrex replied grumpily over the radio.

"With our guns. Stand-by though until each group has reached theirs and we'll shut them down all at the same time. If the VI becomes aware we're here it WILL deploy defenses that could jeopardize this mission."

"Roger Commander," Kaidan replied while fiddling through another locker beside me. He looked up from where he was sifting when a KCHUNK sounded in the room.

"...what the hell did one of you just do?" Shepard started angrily, scolding us like children. And it was largely in response to the appearance of a giant yellow circle now covering (what I assumed to be) all our doors.

_Looks like the AI knows-Oh my god this is EDI! We're about to disable EDI!...hm. __I hope she doesn't hold a grudge for what's going to go down. Although she didn't seem to mind in the next game so I guess it's not a biggie. But on the other hand, it couldn't hurt to-_

"Uh...my bad." I could hear Garrus utter over the radio.

"The damn Turian must have tripped something while opening our door." Wrex clarified for us.

"Another door behind the one we opened suddenly gained a double key encryption. I'm guessing all yours did too," Garrus added.

"Dammit," Shepard muttered.

"No problem. I think I can get through this," Kaidan responded, now examining the lock on our door.

"So can I," Tali sounded over the radio.

"Great. And I want to repeat - Wait until everyone has found their bunker's core. Report back when you locate them."

"Aye-aye," Kaidan replied back.

"Copy that," Garrus radioed.

"...Guess we can expect it to know we're here now," Kaidan said while fiddling with the lock. "So much for the element of surprise."

_Here we go..._

I trembled a little bit when he unlocked that first door. And then some more when he started going to town on the second one behind it in the following hallway. I decided to speak up over the radio lest my silence got someone killed.

"Hey, uh, just a heads-up. Alliance compounds usually have a large assortment of drones for defense. A lot of them shoot rockets. Just so whoever gets to the next room first isn't in for any nasty surprises."

"Thanks for the heads-up," Ashley responded over the radio. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

But Shepard radioed not moments later, "Shield was right! Weapons free as soon as you get the main chamber!" I could hear turret fire and an explosion over the comm before she cut transmission.

"By the goddess," Liara muttered behind me.

"I'm sure she's fine," craning my neck back to assure her.

"I'm not so sure..."

ME NEITHER I almost said back.

"Almost there-" Kaidan spoke before the door suddenly slid open on its own.

Before either of us could react, Liara had already trapped the drone hovering in front of us with a stasis field. And it was red. A rocket drone.

_SHIT._

"READY," I probably shouted louder than necessary. Liara then replied with an "OK," and released it. Kaidan laid down an overload which dropped its shield and simultaenously caused it to drop out of the air. I started filling it with lead as soon as it began to fall. It burst into teeny balls of flame before even hitting the ground. Then Kaidan made a hand motion immediately after, and a shimmering blue light now enveloped the marine. I assumed he had just put up a barrier.

"I'm taking a look. Get ready to get to cover on my signal!"

I made a move to stop him but he leapt into the chamber of death before I could. He quickly came back into our view not a moment later, giving a hand motion to go somewhere behind him. Liara began moving to where he had just pointed.

_Here we GO-_

I followed her out and was immediately tackled by Kaidan to the floor. Beacoup de bullets rained over where we had just been standing. I think I might have shouted "oh shit" as we hit it too.

Either that or I screamed like a little girl. Hard to remember. The door to safety shut behind us and another yellow circle appeared over it. Just like that, the AI had just trapped us in the room. We crawled as fast as we could around the column's corner to where Liara was now crouched. And there we were, trapped on the left side of that giant column you saw as soon as you entered those generic bunker rooms in ME. With the column to our backs, we had crates covering both our flanks and a glass wall to our front. The dark tint of earthy soil behind the glass pane conveyed to me that we were definitely somewhere underneath the surface of the moon. That revelation was as dope as shit.

Simultaneously, it hit me that if any of these drones flanked either side of our position, we'd basically be fish in a barrel.

"This is really bad," I said looking to Kaidan.

"Just be smart and ready to move. If we can funnel them one by one into our sights, we'll be fine," he replied calmly. An assault drone then whirled into view and a subsequent explosion shattered it into a million pieces. Shrapnel was sent everywhere at a million miles per hours, some flying across my helmet's visor and bouncing off my kinetic barrier. A blue bar suddenly appeared in my HUD and went down by a third.

_Nice to know I have this now HELMET._

Then my mind wandered back to the drone that had just been obliterated. "What the hell just happened," I sputtered.

"Proximity mine," Kaidan told me getting up. "Time to move. Make for that cover over there!"

Liara sent a singularity into the corridor space between our column and the one Kaidan had just pointed to. She then made a dash across it. I manned up and followed. I spotted three drones hovering in the center of the room as I passed the space. Two white, one red. Before Kaidan could follow us, a rocket launched past the gap I had just sprinted through and exploded. The explosion was deafening.

_JESUS CHRIST-_

A black plume of smoke erupted from the glass wall, blocking our view of the Lieutenant. I could only guess if Kaidan was remotely alright. Or alive.

"KAIDAN!"

Nothing.

"Liara! Can you clear that!?" I shouted in her direction now, while pointing my gun at the vantage point.

"I'll try!" she shouted back, the black smoke instantly becoming peppered blue with her biotics.

A rocket drone emerged from the smoke just as it began to part.

_AHHHHHHHHHHDRENALINE RUSH-_

I was already firing my gun before the familiar tone of sepia and sudden focus kicked in. It seemed to just hover there now, pacified, while I emptied an entire magazine into it. As the heat sink ejected, I took a knee to crouch. Once I heard the next clip feed into gun's chamber, I resumed firing. My trigger finger froze where it was as a rocket began to slowly propel itself from the drone's muzzle.

_Fuck._

I shut my eyes.

_..._

_..._

_..._

I peeked one of my eyes open. The missile had a violet hue around it. Then it suddenly returned to whence it came. The drone exploded in a fashionable manner. A giant ball of fire. Bright colors of orange, yellow, and red. All in glorious slow-mo to boot. My vision returned to normal right after the display ended, the effects of the ability literally wearing off just seconds after the performance.

"...Liara-" I begun to say spinning around. But I found that she was already moving around the corner.

_Shit._

I decided to tail her. When I turned around the column's corner, I found she was already halfway toward the door leading to the next room. Liara was a lot quicker than I would have thought. Although I admit I didn't really have the faintest clue of how fast Asari were in the first place. I begun to sprint after her. And I found that Liara's reflexes were pretty quick too. One second she was running ahead of me and then the next she was gone. I decided to follow suit, breaking into a nose dive for cover behind the same crate. And not a moment too soon apparently as our position was immediately peppered by machine gun fire.

_Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god. Don't float over us. Please don't float over us. Please-_

We were pinned for a good while until the machines' relentless assault suddenly stopped. My curiosity got the best of me and I leaned out from cover to see why. I found the four white drones in the center of the room just floating there. Then a sudden bright flash of light caused me to shield my eyes. I blinked twice, readjusting them just in time to see all the drones begin plummeting to the ground.

_Overload. Kaidan must be fine then. Alright._

The drones had only been hovering about four feet in the air though, and all of them landed safely on their tripods.

_Pphhhh-_

But now that the automatons had lost their vantage point, the affair became a rather standard firefight. Liara and I popped up regularly to hit them with gunfire and Kaidan added additional support somewhere from the room's side. Though shit was still intense. Every time my shields got hit, my heart fluttered a bit and my head got a little woozy. Can't imagine what the whole affair did to my blood pressure and health. But I had to hand it to me, actually contributing something to the team was a really satisfying feeling. I wasn't sneaking around the battlefield this time, or hiding behind cover, taking a potshot every now and then to maintain appearances. I was in the thick of it, really letting the damn machines have it.

The one thing that I found myself really liking during the whole shit-storm was that my helmet had air conditioning. Cool air venting in, a breeze gently hitting my face. It was really handy in keeping the sweat on my forehead from becoming a problem. Problems like dripping across my face or fogging up my visor. Those would have been fairly bad. I had to hand it to the future, they really thought of everything. My main complaint for the situation was my helmet's microcomputers. I don't know why, but for some weird reason, only after the battle was halfway over did my helmet think it would be a good time to start displaying everything it could on my HUD.

And I didn't remember messing with it before the mission, so I drew the conclusion that my HUD apparently synced itself with my weapon on its own accord. Mid-way through the fight, my helmet set aside a teal square in its bottom left corner, displaying the amount of shots I had left before my gun overheated. Which was useful, albeit weird. And along with keeping track of my magazine (or the best it could anyway, since my gun wasn't a typical fire arm), it still kept track of my kinetic barriers and some cool numbers that I guessed represented your heart beat and other stuff that I also decided to ignore. Definitely needed to bring my helmet on future missions.

After about seven minutes of this back and forth, Kaidan ended up being the one to destroy the last drone, sending a warp at it and shearing it apart with his mind. It blew up with a blue haze shimmering around its debris.

"Well. That wasn't too hard," he said cockily walking out from where we had originally left him.

"Uhhhh, debatable." I huffed back. Or tried. I was breathing a little too heavy to really reply.

"Think you can get pass this door Lieutenant?" Liara asked him, getting up from where she was kneeling.

"Definitely. Just give me a sec."

True to his word, only thirty seconds passed before the door let out a hiss and opened. I brought up the rear as we started down the compound's final hallway, continuing until we came across a fork in our path. One left and one right.

"Which door should we take?" Liara asked.

_Which seat SHOULD we take?_

The lyrics from Rebecca Black's Friday went as they suddenly popped into my mind. As soon as they did, I started batting them back down to whatever dark recess they came from.

_Why is this even-_

"Left?" I blurted while trying to get the song out of my head.

_-Friday. Gotta get down on Fridaaaay-Stop it. We got a mission brain. Stop it._

I hated when that happens.

_Stupid songs pop into your head and...Hm._

It suddenly hit me that neither of the doors we chose would matter as both rooms contained EDI's consciousness. And having two rooms of memory banks would probably put a dent in Shepard's plan of destroying them all at once.

_Probably should have told her that before we all split up._

In any case, Kaidan decided to take my suggestion and walked towards the room on our left. And I guessed we'd just deal with the dilemma once it came.

BANG.

As soon as Kaidan had gotten the door to the room open, the sound of a gunshot rang out in the hallway. The sound caused me to wince, and for a moment, his shields flared blue. Liara and I drew our guns but by the time we did, Kaidan was already lifting his assailant up into the air. We quickly noticed he was Human.

"WOAH! Stop! I'm sorry! I thought you were the VI!" the old man in a lab coat sputtered, dropping his gun. As it clattered on the floor, I could see that it was a really nice model. Or brand new anyway. It had a really nice sheen to it.

"Please, he was just trying to protect us!" a woman exclaimed popping out from behind a work bench too. About six other researchers did the same.

_WOAH. What the-Where did...Who the hell are all these people?!_

"Sorry," Kaidan replied sheepishly, letting the man down carefully.

"Are you here with the Alliance?" a man on the right side of the room asked in a German accent.

"Yes we are. We're here to make sure you're safe and to shut down the VI," the Lieutenant replied.

"Thank the maker," a blonde woman muttered.

"It's data cores are in the room across from us!" a young-looking Indian man shouted next to the German dude.

"Thanks," Kaidan said turning toward the only door left unopened, located at the opposite end of the long corridor we were standing in. "Stay put, help will be here shortly."

"I'm so glad you all came here when you did," the old man who had shot Kaidan added, bent over in exhaustion. "When we hid in this room and locked the door, that Thing decided to start recycling our air. It wanted to suffocate us since it couldn't reach us."

"We only realized it when we started gagging," someone added from the back.

My mind was going a mile a minute while the two parties conversed.

_They're not Alliance soldiers. Just scientists. But I thought this was supposed to be an Alliance training course. Wasn't it?_

"We've had to resort to using the oxygen tanks from our g-suits for air. We we were just about to run out," the old scientist continued.

"If there's anything we can do to thank you..." the blonde woman behind him said nearly in tears.

_What are they doing here? Were they...messing with the AI? GASP. Are they the reason it went as rogue as Saren?!_

"Hey Dr. Wegner! Why don't you give them the Cobra model!" another researcher said from the back of the room. I couldn't quite see him from where I was standing.

"But it's not-" the old man started before pausing. Then he bent down and picked up the pistol he dropped. Looking at it longingly for a second and then back up to Kaidan, he walked over and handed it to him. "Technically, it's still in testing. But it functions perfectly! Please! You can make greater use of it than we."

At first he held out his hands in refusal, saying things like "Oh no, I couldn't." But he eventually gave in after some resistance and accepted the token.

"Its modeled after a unique Asari weapon design. It operates by firing shaved submunitions that allow it to impact kinetic barriers on a microscale. It-"

"It's amazing! The kick-back's a little strong but its worth!" a dude with messy red hair shouted excitedly from the back. He was obviously passionate about his work.

_Hm. I guess these guys are weapon developers. But then what the hell..._

"I...can't thank you enough," Kaidan thanked them again.

"It's the least we can do for your efforts here," Dr. Wegner replied.

"What are you all doing here?" I finally asked after waiting impatiently for an exposition that never came.

"Oh. We're the research and development department of Hahne-Kedar on Luna!" the red-head exclaimed.

"Shadow works," the Indian clarified.

_Hahne-Kedar? Shadow works?_

"Shadow works?" Kaidan asked astonished. He was obviously impressed by the term.

"Yeah, although don't tell our bosses we were the one who gave that to you. They'd probably be upset with us giving out freebies," he joked.

"Your secrets safe with me," Kaidan replied with a grin.

_Hahne Kedar supplies weapons to the Alliance. And these are researchers for them...so..._

"Hey, and we still need to field test our newest armor line!" another researcher outburst.

"SR-2, SR-3, what are your current statuses?" Shepard's voice rang in my ear.

"Excuse me for a moment," Kaidan said turning away and walking out of the room to respond. He left Liara and I to deal with the scientists ourselves.

"Pat, we can't-" a girl with black disheveled hair started before she was cut off.

"Hey, we gave them the cobra. And we can give this to them too! It's the least we could do since they saved our LIVES," the 'Patrick' replied.

"No, Mr. Magroyn's right," Dr. Wegner agreed now walking towards a large metal cylinder. He pressed a couple buttons on his omni-tool and it slowly slid open to reveal its contents. Inside was a set of armor painted with grey camo. Along the chest-piece's lower torso were red underlays and tubing, and higher up, extremely asymmetric shoulder plates covered it's upper portion. Looking at it, I found its form both impressive and horrific at the same time. "We call it, the Janissary line."

"Wow," I managed to mouth as he took it off its perch.

"We were planning on submitting the design to the Council. For use as a high-end armor model for Asari Spectres."

"And now one HUMAN!" the one named Pat Magroyn added excitedly. He took the armor from the Doctor's hands and started walking towards me. "But we still need to field test it. Please, take it!"

He shoved the armor set into my arms. And as he did, Liara gave me a worried look.

"We couldn't possibly take this from you as well," she told them. "You're too generous."

"No, we insist. Who better to test it than Alliance marines regularly facing danger!"

I turned toward Liara with my best puppy dog eyes. "Well. It would be rude to refuse. And I don't know about Kaidan but I'm pret-ty sure Shepard would approve of helping test this for them," I lied. She didn't know Shepard well enough to disagree. And I REALLY needed new armor. My current one was a little lacking in the protection department. Back on Therum I noticed Ashley's kinetic barriers could take like ten shots before going down. Mine could only take four. Shitty shield. And after Therum, it had shoddily repaired holes. I almost thought I'd die getting out of the Mako. In comparison to this experimental prototype apparently designed for Spectres that I was getting for FREE, I'm sure there was no contest.

I didn't fail to realize the bizarreness of the scenario though. People working in something called the 'Shadow Works' were obviously up to no good.

_These guys just happened to have top of the line prototype weapons lying around? Weapons that they're also willing to just give away for free? Convenient. A little TOO convenient...wait. Could...is all this here...for me? Were these scientists here just so I could get this armor? The universe obviously doesn't exactly revolve around Me but-_

"-and the shields emit from crystal pleated matrices that make its barriers much more hardened. More than that Aldrin trash you're wearing anyway...I hope it protects you as well as you protected us," the Indian guy finished beaming behind Pat.

At the same time my inner monologue and the researchers were going on and on, Team Normandy was updating us with their statuses. It was almost sensory overload. Garrus finished his report on his team's status over the radio right around the same time the scientist had just finished speaking.

"Alright, get ready to shut down the VI," the radio relayed to me from Shepard.

I found the words to say "Thank you," before finding that Liara had already left my side too. Both of my squad mates were currently in the room across from us.

_Oh crap._

"I gotta get moving! Thanks again!"

I sprinted to where they were and sealed the door behind me. Quickly examining the room, I saw that four of EDI's data cores lined its walls.

"Where were you?" Kaidan asked me upon entering. Then he saw what I was holding. "And what's that?"

"One..." Shepard started.

"No time!" I replied dropping the armor on the ground. I liked to have both hands on my pistol, as I felt more professional that way. That and I could barely handle the recoil with two hands let alone one. I shut my eyes when I heard the new chunk of armor strike the metal floor.

_Ugh. I hope I didn't just scratch it..._

"Two..."

Kaidan opened his mouth to say something but realized he didn't have the time, turning his attention back to his target..

"Three!"

We each lit up a machine and fried them all around the same time. The one we ignored immediately conjured a hex shield and started leaking some kind of green gas into the room.

"Uh..." I uttered pointing a finger at it.

"Shut it down!" Kaidan quickly shouted open firing on the thing. A couple seconds later and pop, bang, boom. It was destroyed. The lights sputtered a bit and then came back on. The fumes the machine was emitting ceased as well.

"Shepard, our end's down," Kaidan said, pressing the earpiece on his...helmet.

"Same here," Wrex's voice boomed on the radio.

"...Shepard?"

Silence.

"Shepard?!"

"...Sorry, some drones dropped out of the ventilation ducts but we're fine. I'm shutting the facility's VI down now. All squads will meet back on the surface. Alliance will be here soon to pick up the survivors."

"Roger," Kaidan replied. As we turned around to leave the room, a burst of white noise screeched in my helmet.

"AGH!" Kaidan shouted as he bent over in pain.

"Are you alright?!" Liara asked him alarmed.

"Ugh...yeah...just give me a moment."

_The screech must have set off a migraine. Poor guy._

"Must have been Shepard shutting down the AI," I said rubbing the sides of my helmet where my ears would normally be. The noise was pretty unpleasant for me too.

As Kaidan recovered, I picked my new armor back off the ground. Didn't have any scuffs like I had feared thank god. And with that out of the way, we all ended up exiting EDI's servos room together. Ignoring the following static on our radios, we relayed the news to the HKSW researchers back across the hallway. After expressing some more of their appreciation for saving them, we left the group there and made our final trek out of the moon base, meeting up with the other two fire teams back on the surface of Luna.

And as we all convened at the Mako, Shepard called for our ride. "Joker. We're ready for pick-up."

While Tali, Wrex, and Garrus' faces were obscured by their helmets' dark visors, I could at least see Shepard and Ashley's.

I could clearly see that they were grim.

* * *

*click*

On Shepard's order, he disconnected her from the call.

Her conversation with the Admiral wasn't pretty. The whole boondoggle was just another reason why fooling around with artificial intelligence was a reallyyyyyyy bad idea. He knew the thing was technically a VI but the principle was still the same. Create robots and they rebel against you. It was pretty much the plot of every old vid concerning them. And apparently the rest of the galaxy at large agreed with the sentiment too.

_I mean, when will they learn that creating AIs only lead to one thing? First comes the self-awareness. That classic question of "Who Am I?" Then comes the autonomy. Questions like "Who are you and why do I have to do what you say?" Then came the robot overlords who wanted to wipe out all organic life-_

He frowned at his lame attempt to distract himself.

A lot of people had died. For no reason. Every guard and officer in the Alliance training compound was killed. Several of the researchers for Aldrin Labs were too. Only the guys from Hahne-Kedar came out relatively unscathed. That 'program' killed thirty-five people for absolutely no reason. None. One corrupted line of code and thirty-five ended up dead.

_...How does one wake up one day and find out that it'll be your last? I mean...you wake up, go to work, put on your lab coat, start typing away at your computer, and then find your VI assistant suddenly saying "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that," and go 'exterminate all humans' on your ass. _

He hated VIs. A lot of eggheads argue that ships should be VI-remote controlled, removes the need for risking the life of a Human pilot. But they're just not the same. A VI would never be able to match a Human pilots sense of intuition. Their pure raw talent. As soon as you try replacing everything with robots and VI, you start to replace everything that makes one Human. It wasn't lost on Joker that the Quarians probably experienced this first hand. But he didn't exactly have pity for the aliens, since they were the whole reason they were even out here in the first place. A week ago, and just a week ago, all they were supposed to do was go on a shakedown run to Eden Prime. Pick up an old alien artifact, call it a day.

Then the Geth attacked out of nowhere. The planet was razed to the ground. And they found out Saren was set on destroying Humanity. And now here they were trying to beat the maniac in a race to find a Prothean doomsday device that could wipe out all life as they knew it.

He sighed.

He always knew that Spectres were trouble. And sudden memories of their own Spectre passenger started to come flooding back.

Nihlus.

He cringed upon remembering the name. The first memory that returned was when he attempted to alert Captain that the Turian was coming his way, right before they entered Prime's Orbit. As an innocent joke of course. And then being told that the Spectre was already there. Now that had been plenty awkward.

Joker frowned as the memory ended.

_And the guy was killed by killer robots too...Or was it Saren who did him in?_

Joker didn't remember. But he knew for a fact that the robots had been responsible for what had happened to Rick. Killed in an ambush and left for dead. And he knew it wasn't the Commander's fault he died down on the planet that day but...he still resented her for the nonchalance she had in regards to his death.

_Did Shepard ever make any mention of his passing? No. Any word of sympathy? No. _

She had apparently just left him where he fell, dead on the ground...

Joker nearly jumped out of his seat when he realized someone was standing there right beside him. Recovering from his shock and a bruised tail bone, he looked up to see who his surprise visitor was.

_Speak of the devil._

It was Shepard. He buried his thoughts and put on a smile, deciding to ask to what he owed the pleasure. Only with a heap of scathing sarcasm of course.

"So, come here too often?"

"Watch it," the red head replied half-joking, half-I'll kick your handicapped ass if you don't.

He decided to generate another sass effect field regardless. "I know it's hard not to stare," he said angling his face so she had a better view. "But if you have to, take a holo. It'll last longer."

Shepard ignored him. "Just get me the intercom."

"What for?" he asked genuinely curious.

"Don't have me court martial you for insubordination. Just do it."

"Alright, alright, sheesh. Turning on the comm."

He clicked a few buttons and a green square blinked on in the top right corner of his interface. He motioned to his console. She leaned over him and with a deep breath, began to speak.

"Crew, this is your Commander speaking. In light of recent events, the Normandy will be needing to dock at the Citadel. While we're there, new equipment, supplies, and personnel will be brought aboard the ship. This will take time, so until everything is sorted out, I've made the decision to issue shore leave for-"

The bridge, command deck, and Joker was sure that the rest of the ship broke out in cheer too. The sound from the CIC alone shook the hull. In fact, he was sure their raving could be heard all the way from Earth. And then, Joker pondered the decision as she went on with her announcement.

_It took about a week to prepare the Normandy for its shakedown run and it's been about another since we've started the mission. Shore leave doesn't come by often and having one so soon...it's just a-_

"-couple days until everything is brought aboard and accounted for. Until then, enjoy the time you have."

The bridge crew clapped for her as she walked back down the way she came. Joker had to hand it to her.

_People might call Shepard a 'Hard-ass'. And 'Intimidating'. And 'Ruthless'. All true. BUT...she's a good Commander. She knows when people need to let off steam._

He certainly wasn't complaining to get some extra time for shore leave. Joker leaned back in his chair. Or tried. The standard model seats for Alliance warships were insufferably uncomfortable, didn't really have any accommodating features. But as he said, he didn't mind that right now. He was about to kick back and relax for the next few days...as soon as they got to the Citadel.

A smirk came across his face.

_...Haha, like hell I am. _

Instead, he started to focus on where he was going to get drinks. Given how Alliance marines were drawn to bars like moths are drawn to light, a lot of the usual hangouts would be less than desirable to go to. He would have to thoroughly research which places to drink were nearest to the dock, their ratings, their prices, how often they were frequented, which times were best to avoid getting bumped into and breaking a hip, places where he could-

"Hey Joker! Gladstone, I and the rest of the bridge are planning on going to Flux for drinks sometime. You in?"

Joker stroked his beard, weighing the pros and cons of-

"Eh sure. If I don't have anything better to do," he replied halfheartedly.

"Right," Rosey said rolling her eyes and turning back to her console.

Joker turned to stare back out into the vast expanse before him. And then started drumming his fingers on the metal surface below his haptic interface.

_Ba da ba ba ba na ba da bA-tsh tsh sh tsh datsh tshhhh-Hanging in space with the jazz triooo...__And now come on with dat base- boo boo boom boo boom._

He loaded the star chart Pressly had just sent to his omni-tool and shot the Normandy into FTL travel.

_Scat scat scat, scattily scat-_

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Alliance Death Notifications**

Intercept 18:37/ Secure Comm Buoy #4673 / Encrypted / #2217 - DA - 216

Sender: Captain **David Anderson**, Citadel Station

Lieutenant Alenko,

It is to my understanding that you asked **Shepard** for the responsibility of notifying Corporal Jenkins' family of his death on **Eden Prime**. I know you two were close but that just makes doing these types of things that much harder. I also know this is your first time writing one of these as well. I've found over my time that the Alliance's standard template for notices are impersonal and do the deceased's family a disservice. So I just wanted to lend some advice for how I've usually come to do them:

The number one thing to remember is that even if his family are made of veteran soldiers, don't treat them as such. They don't need grisly details of his death or that he died on the front lines. What they should know is that he did so in the service of Humanity and in the defense of the planet he was born on. Include personal anecdotes you had of Rick and the time you spent with him, be honest with how you feel with his passing, let them know you care just as much as they do. Most important of all though, don't include that you were there at the time of his death.

I fear one of the reasons you asked to do this Lieutenant is that you feel guilty for what happened to him. That you hold yourself accountable for not being able to prevent his passing. Don't. His death hurt us all but it was no less your fault than mine for sending him with you on that shore party. He was a good soldier and knew the dangers of war. If you have to blame anyone for his death, blame the **Geth**. Or better yet, blame **Saren**. I hope your current search has turned up some results leading to his current whereabouts. His crimes have gone unanswered long enough, and its high time he's reaped his rewards.

The Corporal was a good man, and we're all lesser for his loss. Alenko, I wish you the best of luck in your efforts and in bringing those responsible for his death to justice.

We'll talk later.

Sincerely,

Captain** David Anderson**

Alliance Military Consultant to the Human Embassy

Citadel Station, Presidium

PS- I've attached the Corporal's case file to this message. I hope it can help.

File: Service Number 7723-ND-4586 (Inactive)

Corporal Richard Leroy Jenkins was born in the year 2159 CE in the Capital of **Eden Prime**, **Constant**. Enlisted in the Alliance Marine Corps 2178 CE. Began career education at the Recruit Training Depot in **Constant**, **Eden** **Prime**. Was certified proficient with the standard-issue M7 Lancer assualt rifle and light to standard-weight combat hardsuits upon graduation 2179 CE. Assigned rank Private 2nd Class 2179 CE. Completed certification in zero-gravity combat situations aboard the Rakesh Sharma Orbital Platform on Earth's geosynchronous orbit 2179 CE. Completed Hostile Environment Assault Training at Fort Gunning on Europa, Jupiter's moon 2179 CE.

Assigned to the 97th Marine Division of the Alliance Fifth Fleet 2180 CE. Assigned rank Private 1st Class 2180 CE. Served with distinction on Agebinium during Incident 373-F 2182 CE. Assigned rank Corporal 2182 CE. Upon the request of one Admiral Stephen Hackett, assigned to the crew of the SSV Normandy 2183 CE. Military Vocational Code is B4. KIA on **Eden Prime** during [redacted] 2183 CE.

* * *

Captain Anderson is a rejected Alliance Spectre candidate. Recently assigned as an assistant to the Human Ambassador Donnel Udina on the Citadel. Currently using his personal computer for effects. Until he receives an encrypted console for use, the Broker wants you to continue monitoring his incoming and outgoing messages for any information of import. Report any findings you get to me at the end of the next galactic cycle. Operative Majoris out.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So a fun new thing I think I'm going to start doing is codex entries! With some of the changes Shield is finding in deh ME Universe, we'll probably find that some of them can only be clarified outside of the current narrative. And what better way to learn about these things than through insights into the activities of one of the most omniscient beings in the Galaxy! E****xpect their quantity, quality, and topics to vary. Also, I'm kinda now regretting separating the internal thoughts of our POVs from the regular narratives. Hard to discern what should be third-person or first-person. But I'm in too deep to stop doing it now. ANYWAYS-**

**In other news, expect weekly updates. Shit's hard yo. I love writing this adventure almost as much as reading it (proof reading the same thing over and over though does kinda wear on ya) but school does take away large chunks of my life. So I'll try to get these out as soon as I write em.**

**And no, I won't apologize for all the alliteration. You know you love it.**

**In the Next Chapter: Shore Leave!? Time to Party Hardy! Tall tales, Sightseeing and...wait...side missions? Ewwwww.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	15. The Keener, Khalisah, and Kahoku

I buckled the last strap into place, and took a look at myself in the bathroom mirror.

_Hm._

I slowly began to turn myself around while looking over my shoulder, continuing my inspection.

_Hmmmm._

And after I completed the rotation, I gave a nod of approval to my reflection.

_Not bad._

I raised my shoulders and let them fall back down. The suit was definitely heavier than the one I had been wearing since Eden Prime. I didn't exactly find the color scheme to be in good taste either. But it was new. And apparently made with the finest materials and TLC available. I thanked the lord that Shepard didn't decide to confiscate it from me.

"What's that?" she had asked. "Uh, just some armor I found," I had replied back. Kaidan had been eavesdropping and decided to explain the events of its acquisition in even further detail. And when Shepard grimaced, I had totally thought she was going to take it for herself. Thankfully though, what must have been due to divine intervention, she just decided to turn around and walk away without a word.

My eyes wandered up to a corner in the bathroom's ceiling. I had given Kaidan a faux smile after that, and then immediately after, rushed to my locker and shoved it in, officially claiming the gear. Wearing it now, I felt a little weird. As weird as it sounds, I felt like I was betraying my original hardsuit. Like I was abandoning it.

_I woke up with my Onyx armor. And we've been through so much together. It's like the first thing I saw. And it saved my life in that Space port on Eden Prime...hm. And what else? I was wearing it when I got flung around by Shepard. Stylishly faced the Council with it. Had it in the firefights at the clinic and alley way. Can't forget those. Therum. Damn that's a lot of shit._

I looked down to where the armor currently lay on the bathroom floor. I was originally planning to sell it, but...I couldn't just abandon the poor thing now. Not after all we've been through. I picked it up and exited the bathroom, making a straight beeline for the Normandy's elevator. Once it descended down to the garage, I walked out and over to my locker, tossing the old hardsuit inside. I stood there for a second, then bent back down and got my pistol from the locker too.

_Can't forget the gun. Definitely need that._

I let out a deep breath and walked back over to the elevator. Now I just needed to catch back up with the rest of the crew. About a half-hour had passed since we had docked back at the Citadel. The Non-Alliance Personnel-

_Aka Wrex, Tali, Garrus, Liara and...oh...that's it._

-had been the first ones to exit the ship. They had the least amount of stuff to grab before doing whatever they had planned to do for shore leave. I knew Garrus was planning to visit his ol' stomping grounds at C-Sec, and that Tali was apparently going with him, as she still needed to officially register herself on the Citadel. I guess she hadn't exactly been able to get around to it back when all those mercenaries were still after her. I on the other hand, remembered getting registered like a good citizen when we were here last time. Although that was mostly due to every time I passed Avina. The VI would recommend I do so with every encounter. And I had eventually gotten annoyed enough to do so after Kaidan, Garrus and I chilled at Flux. And it wasn't exactly pleasant. It was like waiting at the DMV for a license but twenty times worse. There were sketchy looking Hanar there, creepy ass Elcor that kept glancing at me, and oh god, I never wanted to hear an Asari baby cry again. It was awful.

I pushed the elevator button to go up.

I had no idea what Wrex and Liara had planned to do today. But it was whatever. The rest of the Normandy crew was still packing up. While some had been a little more eager to leave, others were still packing their clothes and other personal effects for their time off. And it worried me a little bit because I thought everyone would still just be 'living' on the ship.

_Are we really not able to come back aboard the ship once we leave?_

I decided I would just roll with whatever the case was regardless though. It would sort itself all out. As it usually did. I did know that Shepard and the two token Humans still hadn't left yet. At least when I had made the decision to change into my new armor anyway. I could probably be sure they had already left by now, and I could only hope that I hadn't fallen too far behind.

As the elevator door slid open, I found myself walking into the company of three Alliance officers. And I found their eyes all turned upon me with the interruption. I recognized the two on the left as engineers from downstairs, didn't talk to them much but I've still seen them around. The man on their right though, he wasn't someone I was familiar with. Had an oval face that was tanned. Had bright green eyes, grey hair barely noticeable underneath his cap. Long nose, light stubble, dressed in an officer's uniform. Overall, he had the disheveled look of someone who hadn't gotten sleep in days. He still seemed to carry an air of authority with him though. Or superiority.

_He's obviously an Alliance officer. And we just docked. Which means...huh. This could be that Admiral who inspects the ship! ...Kahoku! No wait-that other dude! What's his face. Rear Admiral-_

"-Mikhailovich. And I assume you're one of the non-personnel that was brought aboard this vessel."

"Shield. Marauder Shield," I replied extending a hand, albeit cautiously. The dude was out for blood. I didn't want to accidentally give him any ammo he could use against Shepard. Once he finished his inspection that is.

_Of course this means that Shepard should still be waiting just outside the ship too! Yes! Not too late!_

He eyed my hand before turning to one of the techies. "Can one of you two show me where the ship's engineering department is? I'd like to take a look at the ship's drive core." One volunteered and led him into the elevator. Once they were gone, the other engineer turned to me. "What an ass."

* * *

I waved to Shepard upon exiting the air lock. She raised an eyebrow with my approach.

"Where have you been?"

"Just finishing some last minute stuff," I replied cryptically. Not that there was a reason to.

"You didn't happen to have run into anyone on your way out did you?" she probed.

"Just Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. Seemed like an alright guy," I joked.

"Really? Because he seemed like an ass," Ashley snidely remarked. Seemed to be a real common opinion.

"...Have you guys just been out here waiting for him to finish his inspection?"

"Yes. It shouldn't be much longer now," Shepard said optimistically.

"Right."

I stepped onto the actual dock and turned around to face the Normandy's airlock too. Ashley subtly turned her head to look at me. Her eyes moved up and down my body.

_...Is she...she couldn't be...is...is she mirin'?_

"Uh...do you-"

"What's up with your armor?"

The question took me by surprise. "…What? What's wrong with my armor?" I looked down at it to see if anything was out of place. But it looked exactly as it did when I put it on. "What do you mean?" I said looking back at her. I didn't have much experience putting the stuff on but it wasn't exactly rocket science-

"Your chest piece. It looks bizarre. Why is it sticking out so much?"

"I noticed that too," Shepard said still staring at the air lock. "It's unusually large for an Alliance combat suit."

"I mean unless there's a generator in there, you think they would have noticed it would be a little over sized for what the average marine is used to wearing," Ashley concluded.

_What are they talking about._

I looked back down at my armor. It looked fine to me.

"It might be because it wasn't exactly tailored for him."

I raised an eyebrow quizzically at the LT. "Whatcha talkin' about Kaidan. Of course it isn't."

"I didn't mean that it wasn't specifically tailored for you. But I remember the developer who gave it to you mentioned the armor wasn't exactly designed for regular marines."

_What are you talking...Ohhhhh. Oh noooooooo-_

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked him.

"IIIII think what he meant was that they were probably going for an aesthetic look here. You know, puff out the chest...for intimidation."

Shepard looked at me then back at Kaidan.

"It's designed for women."

_:(_

"What?" Ashley asked as if she hadn't just heard.

"The space is for…a bust?" the Commander said connecting the dots.

"Bingo," he replied grinning. Ashley burst into laughter. "Huh. Suits you," Shepard said cattily.

_:(_

Ashley was still giggling by the time the Admiral exited the ship. Surprisingly, Liara followed him out. Guess she had still been on the ship after all. She continued to walk over to our side once the Admiral had stopped short several feet away.

"Commander. I am not happy."

"Sounds like a fairly common situation," Shepard deadpanned.

"Commander, I suggest you secure your mouth. It's going to get you in trouble."

_Ooooooh snap, shit's about go Dooooooown-_

The Admiral immediately began listing his complaints. "Who designed that CIC? Putting the Commander aft of everyone else is inefficient. What if he needs to discuss with the operators toward the bow?"

Shepard's response was lightning quick. "There are no amateurs on this crew. They know to keep idle chatter minimized during combat. And I can shout with the best DI's."

"A fair point," he decided to concede. "I guess the design has no chance of becoming standard. No need to worry about a generation of recruits learning things ass-backwards. But along the course of construction boondoggles, I have to shake my head at that drive core of yours. A hundred twenty billion-"

_BILLION._

I tried to wrap my head around that much money.

"-credits worth of element zero to make this thing able to move without giving itself away? You realize we could make drive cores for twelve thousand fighters with that money?!"

He acted like Shepard had commissioned the ship herself, and built it with her own two hands. Not exactly her fault the Alliance decided to build the best warship the Galaxy had ever seen.

_And twelve thousand fighters. A hundred twenty billion divided by twelve thousand would be...ten million per fighter. Jesus. That's still TOO DAMN HIGH._

"And what good is it to hide for a few hours anyway?! Useless!"

Kaidan and Ashley turned to Shepard to see what she would say next.

"MEN with limited vision said the same thing about early spacecraft, biotics, and the Alliance itself."

_Ooooooh snap! Someone get some aloe vera up in hurrrrr!_

"There's two ways I could take that Commander. But that is true. I'm sure though that the first frigates produced worked much better than this thing. And we need to talk about your crew Commander."

"What about it."

"I read the roster. Krogan? Asari?...TURIANS?! What are you thinking Commander?! You can't just allow alien nationals free access to Alliance equipment!"

Although I was standing behind her, I could still tell she was about ready to go for his throat. Her face was practically twitching with rage. Almost comical to see now that it wasn't focused on me.

"I'm the Normandy's Commanding Officer and the regs state that I have the authority to say who does and who doesn't come aboard my ship. If you disagree, send a complaint up the chain of command."

_That was...incredibly tame for her. What the hell?_

"Sophistry Commander. You know I'm right. You want them on board that bad though? Fine. Just don't quote regs at me." He glanced at me and the others standing behind her. "Do you have anything else to say Commander? Any other justifications for the state of this vessel?"

She took no time in responding. "We showed the Council something they haven't thought of with our fighter carriers. You may disapprove of the Normandy but she's just another way we're out thinking them."

_Except that the thing was helped built by said Council races. Or I guess it was just the Turians. But my point remains valid!_

I almost had half a mind to interject but I knew better by now than to interrupt Shepard's conversations.

"That assumes the Normandy's technologies can become practical in the future...I'm not convinced the Normandy ISN'T a waste of taxpayer money-

_You're telling me taxes paid for this shit?! 120 billion credits!? HOW-_

"-but I am convinced that you believe otherwise. And that you'll use it to your best ability. I'll be submitting a report to the joint military council. It will not be as...negative as I had planned. Good hunting Commander Shepard. Don't let us down."

He saluted. The Alliance soldiers returned the gesture. He then gave us a nod and made for the elevator at the end of the dock. Shepard turned around to face us. She stared at Kaidan in particular.

"...what was his name again."

"Uh...I think it was Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. Ma'am."

Shepard's face suddenly turned sinister. "Mikhailovich." She said it with such poison, she practically spat the name. "...I don't know where. And I don't know when. But he's going to regret this moment. I guarantee it." She turned back to the rest of us. "Let's go."

I practically shit my pants as I heard her. Just another reminder to not upset Shepard. Which was unfortunately too late for me-

The elevator ride down was a lot less eventful. Not a word was spoken. We all just listened in silence to the news reports that played over the elevator's radio. Speculation of the next Human colony going to be attacked, a sharp rise in the use of omni-gel in Council space, the induction of the first Human Spectre and yadda yadda yadda. But it was only moments after we had just taken our first steps off the lift that we found trouble again.

"Commander? Commander Shepard? Khalisah bint Sinan-Al Jilani, Westerlund News."

_How many side missions are there from the ship to the Presidium..._

I came to terms that the day might pass by a little slowly.

"What's with the name? You a practicing Salarian?"

_Oh my god...What?_

"Wha-What? No! It's Arabic! What kind of-...(ahem). Would you be interested in answering a few questions for our viewers?"

"Not in the mood Miss...Al Jilani."

It might have been just me, but it sounded like she said the name with a blatant amount of contempt.

"People back home have heard a lot of wild stories about you Commander. I can give you the chance to set the record straight. What do you say?"

Shepard stared her dead in the eyes. "Fine. Just make it quick. I have places I need to be."

"Oh, don't worry Commander. This will be over before you know it." I glanced nervously at Shepard then back at the reporter.

_Girl. You better hope not._

Khalisah clicked some buttons on her omni-tool and the camera hovering over her shoulder came to life. A light flicked on and the interview started rolling. "Humans have been trying to get the respect of the galactic community for twenty six years. With that in mind, what are your feelings on being the first Human Spectre Commander?"

"We all know it should have happened years ago. It almost did if it hadn't been for alien supremacists. But with my induction, I hope the Council now realizes that we we're _not_ going to be sitting at the kids' table forever."

"Wow. Are you telling us that there was a Human candidate being considered to join the Spectres before even you?"

"Yes, although I'm not at liberty to say more."

That couldn't have been good to mention. Anderson probably wasn't going to like that at all. The reporter continued with what was quickly becoming an alien smear piece. "Very interesting. Let's continue with your last comment. Some believe that without firm action on our part, the Council will continue to treat us with 'poor relations'. Have you encountered any situations where the Citadel asked you to place its needs before the needs of Earth?"

"I think they know not to ask me to work against my own people."

"I think our viewers will be glad to hear that Commander. It's also rumored you've been given command of an advanced Human warship for your missions. Is there anything you'd like to say about it?"

"The Normandy is a triumph of Human engineering. Like our development of fighter carriers, it shows other races that we're able to think 'outside the box.' "

_But it wasn't! The Normandy was only made with the help from Turians you racist-_

Or was it speciest?

_-Tool!_

"That's gratifying. Many defeatist officers claim that the Alliance can't compete with the naval power of, say, the Turians. Do you think it was appropriate to hand Earth's most advanced warship over to the Citadel?"

"Miss Al Jilani, do I look alien to you? If you haven't noticed, I still wear the Alliance uniform. The Normandy hasn't been handed over to anyone. And if you think anyone other than me says where the Normandy goes and what it does, you're sadly mistaken."

"No offense intended Commander. I'm sure you have to follow the orders of your superiors. Of course, now your superiors are aliens."

_Ohhhhh! Oh no she did entttttt!...Wait!_

I opened up my omni-tool discretely and activated the holo-cam feature as fast as I could.

_Thank god for that manual! I need this on tape. I can't believe I almost missed it-_

"One last question Commander."

...A_ny second now-_

"Rumors back home say you're tracking a rogue Spectre named Saren. Do you have any comment on that?"

"For a long time, the Council sat on their hands with regards to Saren. I have to wonder where their thumbs were."

_..._

"Strong words. It's a good time for strong words."

...

"Good luck with your mission." The camera's light flickered off. "...And thank you for your time Commander Shepard. I'm sure you'll look _great_ on camera."

_...no. What? no._

The reporter turned to walk away with her little camera zipping behind after her.

_Shepard's straight renegade. There's no way. She can't meet Al Jilani and NOT punch her. NO. _

The moment had passed though. I dropped my head in disappointment and slowly turned off my holo-recording. Then I heard Shepard speak.

"Hey Jilani."

I raised my eyes back to Shepard who was now jogging to catch up with the reporter.

"Yes?-"

CRACK.

Her body hit the floor with a thud. "I think everyone's had enough of your snide insinuations."

_AW!_

She turned to the rest of us standing who were all standing with our mouths ajar. "We should go."

* * *

The Massacre reported on Torfan. The slander of the XO who had command there. The nickname of the Butcher. Apparently all were done to Shepard by one Miss Al Jilani. That was certainly a shock to hear. And it seemed the rest of the crew agreed. As soon as she heard that, Ashley had gone all 'Serves her right then!' while Kaidan on the other hand, was all like 'But was that really necessary?' And then Shepard had gone all like 'Heeeeell yes.' Then she dismissed the whole affair and assigned us our tasks. Shepard determined that her, Kaidan, and Liara would report to Anderson about our most recent mission and find out where to go next. Ashley and I on the other hand were apparently being sent to find Admiral Kahoku, and were to notify him about the death of his marines. Which I was glad to.

No, not glad to tell him about his dead marines of course. No, that part would suck. It was being given the opportunity to actually make my first real difference was what I was excited about. I was going to save his life. Cerberus was not going to be assassinating any Alliance Admirals on my watch. Not this time.

_But for how long would he stay safe with just a warning? Wasn't he already wary of Cerberus already? And how would I even convince him?_

'Fuck it' I told myself, 'I'll think of it on the fly.' Then I told Ashley that the Admiral would probably be hanging around the Citadel tower and we should look there first. Didn't want to waste time and go asking around like Shepard had previously asked. Luckily for me, Ashley thought it couldn't hurt and now here we were, riding the elevator up to it. I hadn't really talked to her since she had modded my gun for me and so far, we had ridden the lift up in complete silence.

Suffice to say...it was pretty awkward.

"So..." I quietly said under my breath.

"What?"

_Oops. Didn't mean to say That out loud._

And so I immediately racked my brains for a question. "I, uh, was just curious...when did you first join the Alliance?"

Small talk is hard.

But it WAS a genuine question. I actually had no idea. It wasn't like that time I had asked Kaidan a loaded question back on the Normandy, to get him to talk about his BAaT training. I still kind of felt weird about that. Like I was some sort of Facebook stalker or something.

_In fact...having all this information about their lives at my finger tips...and just using it to make them like me...so weird-_

"Ugh, that feels like forever ago. I was only sixteen when I joined so..." She started counting her fingers doing the math in her head. I was a little more caught up in the fact though that-

"You joined the Alliance when you were SIXTEEN?!" I was probably a little too surprised. But damn.

_That's sooooo young._ _For the military anyway-_

"Yup. It must have been the year 2174 when I enlisted. Faked my credentials to enlist early. Dad wasn't happy about that but I was eager to start my career," she replied.

"How old are you now?" I asked absent-mindedly. I regretted opening my mouth as the question left it.

_It's 2183. Do the math. She's like twenty-something. Why did you just ask that? Idiot._

"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's impolite to ask a girl's age?" Ashley teased. I'm pretty sure my face was turning red because she started to grin. "If you really must know, I just turned twenty five."

"Oh really? Then Happy Belated Birthday...wish I had gotten a card."

"Thanks."

Then she leaned against the elevator's glass paneling and looked out. And out of nowhere, she suddenly seemed to take a thousand yard stare. Apparently lost deep in thought. "You know...back then? I really was eager to join the Alliance. Stupidly enlisted before I was even legal." She didn't seem to be talking to me in particular. "You should have heard my dad when he actually found out. He was furious with me. Heh...we must have argued about it the entire day." She paused. "But right before dinner...you know what he said to me?" I held my breath, not wanting to interrupt. "He told me 'I don't know whether to be proud or angry. But if this is really what you want, then I support you kid.' " She gave a half-hearted laugh. "That was dad for you. The most stubborn man alive until he had to go up against his girls. We were all just as hotheaded as he was. Prime examples of an unstoppable force meeting immovable objects."

I still stood there in silence, waiting for her to continue. Something was obviously wrong here. She's never been this open with me about anything. But in any case, here we were, both staring at the Presidium below us silently. With the intuition of a fiver year old, I deducted that something was definitely bothering her.

..._What would Shepard do?_

"...Hey...Ashley...what's wrong?"

She took a deep breath and turned to face me. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get all touchy-feely there. Just remembering when I first enlisted...it brought back a memory of him." She took another breath. "Today's the day he passed away."

_Oh shit..._

I didn't know what to do. This was literally coming out of nowhere. And I wasn't a grief counselor. I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know if we were close enough friends for me to pat her on the back.

_Well...at least say something man!_

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry," I ended up just pathetically whispering.

"Hey, it's not your fault he died."

..._Thaaaat can't be a healthy joke to make._

Then the elevator doors slid open. "Come on," she said. "We got a job to do." I almost opened my mouth to protest. I felt like I should probably follow up on what the hell just happened. But I just mouthed "Right," before following her out.

We found Admiral Kahoku in the same spot as before. I guess he came to this particular console often.

"Admiral?"

He slowly turned around to face us. "To whom do I-oh! Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't you part of Commander Shepard's detail?"

I'm surprised he recognized me. "Oh, Yeah! Nice to see you again Admiral."

"Same to you...you wouldn't happen to have any word on my missing men yet would you?"

"Uh...yeah. Actually, we do." Then I scratched my neck and looked away. I didn't know how to break it to him.

He stood there in shock. "No..."

Looks like I had already told him. In the worst way possible. I looked back up, to face him in the eyes this time. "I'm so sorry Admiral. We found them on Edolus. We believe they had been checking an Alliance distress beacon when they were ambushed by a thresher maw."

"A...a thresher? But that's not-why was there a beacon placed in the middle of a thresher nest?!"

"We don't know...but we suspect foul play. It looked like someone placed it there on purpose," Ashley responded.

"...Dammit. I had a bad feeling since they all disappeared. An Alliance beacon used as bait, my unit wiped out, and nobody seems to know anything about it!" He let out a dejected sigh. "Marines, I appreciate you bringing me this information. Give my regards to the Commander for her help. Now I just need to do my part. The families of those marines need to know the reason why they died...thank you again." He began to walk away.

_NO! NOT YET!_

"Admiral! WAIT!" I said a little loudly. He stopped in his tracks and turned back around perplexed.

"What is it?"

"We'll find out what happened to your marines for you. You...you don't need to do any more investigating. What you're looking for...it's...it's going to get you into trouble." I tried to make myself sound as concerned as I could. I still think I inadvertently came across as a little threatening though.

"What do you mean by 'trouble'?"

Ashley joined in. "Yeah, good question."

I started to get a little frustrated. "Look. I've had a sketchy past Williams. You know that. But I'm with the Normandy now. And I want to make up for any mistakes by helping Shepard and the Alliance." I turned to Kahoku. "And that means by keeping you safe Admiral. If you go down this road..." My voice dropped to a whisper. "...Cerberus will-"

"CERBERUS!?" he hissed through his teeth. "They're involved in THIS?! How do you know!?" He got the look of a mad man.

_Shit...why did I say that. So many better ways to have done this...why didn't I think this through. Why did I say that. Shit._

"I...know a lot of things I probably shouldn't." Looking into his eyes as I spoke, I surprisingly found them staring back with an intensity so strong that the man almost caused me to take a step back in fear.

"What do you know?!" he hissed again.

_His eyes are scary...scary eyes...wa-why am I looking at his eyes? Because...wait. Who else has scary eyes...(gasp) someone who has eight of them! The Shadow BROKER!_

The answer to everything.

"What the hell is Cerberus?" Ashley joined in whispering too, taking the hint something big was going on.

"Doesn't matter," I replied ignoring her. "What matters is that YOUR life will be in jeopardy if you push your digging Admiral."

He continued his furious whispering. "Is that a threat?"

"No! But it's dangerous-"

"You can't just expect me to drop this! We have to take action. If you know about them, then you know they're rogue. And if you've heard of them, you know how dangerous they are! If we don't stop them-"

"Alright! Alright. I'm on your side Admiral. If you won't give this up, then there's one option." I came a little closer. "Talk to Barla Von on the Presidium. Ask him for whatever information he has on them. And while there, ask for protection and safe asylum too."

"...you're talking about the Shadow Broker, aren't you? Why would he do any of that?"

_Uh good question._

"Because you'll tell them that if you're given the information, you'll send it to Shepard. And whatever information she obtains from the stuff you sent, you'll tell them that she'll send it right back. Return it to the Broker as payment."

"Uh, you're just gonna include the Commander in this little scheme of yours just like that? Without even asking her?"

"This is bigger than you think Ash," I snapped back at her. "Once she learns what's at stake, she'll help no questions asked."

Kahoku thought the plan over. "Yes...that might work." He met my gaze. "Are you sure that will be enough for them to help?"

_Nope. But what other choices do we have? ...actually...one._

"No, you're right. If it isn't...tell them..."

_I could give him information that he could use as a trade just in case. But what?!...There's Tela Vasir...but why would I want to reveal their connection. She's working WITH the Shadow Broker. Knowing that would paint him as a target. That would be stupid...there's Alliance raid on those Batarians from Keiji's graybox?...might not have happened yet...uh...what else...AHA!_

"Tell them that you also have information on an agent of Cerberus. An important one. Kai Leng." I whispered. I realized three grown adults crouching in a corner of Citadel tower whispering probably seemed a little suspicious. I stood up from where I was crouching and motioned for the rest of them to do the same. Then I continued to tell him what little I could about the dude. "-We'll walk you back to Barla's office, just to be safe. And please, just _stay_ safe. Don't do anything that can jeopardize your safety."

"...alright. If you're sure about this, you have a deal." He extended his hand and I shook it. "I don't know why you're doing all this, but I'm thankful for it nonetheless."

"Just trying to do the right thing," I responded.

"...What the hell is happening?" Ashley said still totally lost.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Broker's Network on the Citadel**

_Retrieved from Encrypted Data Pad picked up in Kithoi Ward:_

Ketch. I just happened to be wondering why we were one of the last ones to find out that Shepard has just arrived on the Citadel.

Apparently, someone missed the ship's request to the Alliance tower for docking. In fact, an Alliance official was already there to inspect the thing when it landed.

On top of that, Westerlund News somehow had knowledge of their arrival too. They had a reporter ready to interview the Commander before she even took a step into C-Sec.

This isn't amateur hour Ketch. WE WORK FOR THE DAMN BROKER. YOU THINK HE'S GOING TO LET THIS SLIDE?! WESTER-FUCKING-LAND NEWS KNEW BEFORE US.

WESTER-FUCKING-LAND.

You better hope you can get something for the Broker he doesn't already know. Majoris might be lenient here on the Citadel but I can tell you for damn sure the Broker isn't.

I pray for your sake that you can get him some information quickly for your fuck-up.

And I hope to whatever god you believe in that you're not stupid enough to be selling this information to them yourself instead of handing it over to us.

The Broker doesn't take betrayal lightly.

_Retrieved from Encrypted Credit Chit picked up in the Presidium:_

I promise you this isn't my fault! Its my usual contacts! They've all suddenly grown consciousnesses and are ignoring my messages! The operator I know in Alliance tower cut off my access to the Alliance docking logs. And the dock hands I've been paying are avoiding me now! I haven't been able to catch them around their usual haunts.

Gellix. I think someone's trying to make a move. These guys have been under my thumb for years. I know Jackson personally and the dock workers literally go to the same bar every night. There's no way they'd suddenly just _stop_ now! And my usual guy in C-Sec, you know the one. The guy that told us about that Krogan Jax's illegal gun smuggling ring? He was found dead in an alleyway! Professional hit! No witnesses that heard anything. No evidence left behind. Nothing! And the investigators in charge are just chalking it up to some junkie! The whole thing reeks! I honestly think someone's stupid enough to be gunning for the Broker in this area! Put out some feelers! I'm telling you! You'll find something! Someone's messing with our network, I just know it!

And I'll get you something as soon as I can! Please, just tell the Broker I need some more time. People willing to give you sensitive information just don't appear out of the blue! All I need is some time.

_Retrieved from Encrypted OSD in the Presidium:_

Majoris. Apparently the duct rat was telling the truth. I was about to pay him a personal visit before his body was reported found in a dumpster. It might have been a personal vendetta. But after his last message, I doubt it. Someone might be actually be trying to make a move on our network in Kithoi Ward. I'm planning to report this to the Broker. But I'm giving you these so that you can take a look into this. Probably earn you bonus points with the boss if you find out what's going on before he asks. If you ask me though, I really think its you know who. I don't know if you're in the loop but the Volus recently just sent a request to the Broker himself for info on them. You might not believe they exist, and call me paranoid all you like, but I'm damn sure they're at least involved with this in some small way. They always are. I'm sure though the Broker will tell you himself what he thinks soon enough. I'll contact you if anything else comes up. Gellix out.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Did you guys know Ashley joined the Alliance when she was 16!? I sure didn't. If you check the ME timeline, you can actually find when she was born in 2158 and when she joined in 2174. I mean hot damn gurl. Respect. Also, apparently Kaidan joined just a year before her. Looking at the disparity in their ranks, you can really see the Williams' Curse in action. And just so its out there...I know some of the convo's are almost word for word. I do want to stick to the game's script since its so damn good. Just think of the story as an almost, partly, kinda, but pretty much novelization of the game with AU elements too. And look forward to the next chapter. I'm really hoping it turns out well.**

**Also, Responses:**

**Wolfy - **If you had a PM I'd send you one personally. But I just wanted to say thanks for the advice man, and the compliments of course too, I really appreciate it. If more people gave their two-cents like you, I'd be a happy dude. The Arcs within a chapter are something I'll definitely start keeping in mind, and like you, I really hope my writing improves as this story continues. And I think so far each chapter averages 4700 so I guess we're at a good place. In summary, thanks again for your input brah [and for reading the AN too :) ].

**Guest -** I appreciate your enthusiasm. I know we haven't seen eye to eye and you seem to often flip flop in your opinion of the story but I appreciate that you let me know at least whenever you change your answer. I almost feel like your two different people though. Or several. Not that multiple personality disorder is a bad thing. But you should check your account's safety...I think there might be multiple people using it!

**In the Next Chapter: ...Can I get a break now? Oh wait, I have to hear a horrible nightmarish back story first? Aw maaaan.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	16. Remembering the Renegade's Role

"But Shepard-"

"No. And that's final."

I frowned and put down my drink. Shepard walked away from our table, back to the bar of Chora's Den with Ashley and Liara tailing behind her. And then they started pounding back shots. I looked back across the table at Kaidan.

"Wait...I could have sworn she just said no to drinking. Didn't she say no to this?"

"Just look at that man."

He pointed somewhere past my shoulder. I turned around to find Joker and EDI breaking it down on the dance floor. But Joker looked like he did in Mass Effect. Photo-realistic. Fictional.

"What? What the-why is EDI-"

I got slapped across the face by Liara.

"OW!"

"That was for earlier."

"What? What did I-"

I stopped to actually take a look around. We were in Normandy's med bay. Chakwas was taking a drink with Shepard on her desk.

I looked back to Liara who had suddenly disappeared.

Then Kahoku appeared behind one of the room's glass windows. He frowned.

Alarmed, I got up to to talk to him but immediately found myself tripping and my face hitting the floor-

-and then I snapped awake.

_Woah...Ok. Yeah. Just a dream...God I have such weird dreams._

Although it hadn't been That weird. Definitely not as bad as that nightmare I had after Eden Prime. I shifted underneath my covers and pulled my arm out. I activated my omni-tool and looked at the time. Late. I groaned and pulled the covers off.

Hopping off the bunk to take a leak, I found the ship was eerily empty. No people moving in and out to bring crates aboard like last night. Finishing my business quickly, I went back to the bunk room and latched my armor back on, thinking about what my next move was. Shepard had said no to grabbing drinks the night before. So everyone had just kind of done their own thing. After escorting Kahoku to Barla and reporting to Shepard, I decided to just 'sneak' back aboard the ship and spend the rest of the evening watching old vids-

_Movies. They're called movies._

-before falling asleep. And I didn't know how people in Mass Effect did it. There was no day and night cycle in the Wards, and it's not like they had one on the Normandy. Someone always had to be awake on the vessel, so the lights were _always_ on too. And I certainly had no idea how people slept well without being aware of the time. Made me wonder how crews of submarines did it back in the 21st century. Looking at the time on my omni-tool though, I could at least tell everyone had probably already started their day. Mostly because it was past nineteen hundred. Or in layman's terms, 7:00 pm. In Earth Time anyway.

I still didn't know how time worked out here to be frank. But I could be sure of one thing. I had slept way too well.

I grabbed a ration 'snack' pack on my way up the stairs and dug into the veggie chips inside as I waltzed through the empty CIC, coming across a couple crates and data pads that were left strewn across the floor.

_Whoever was doing all this didn't exactly clean up well._

But with the special circumstance I currently found myself in, I decided to stop and actually examine the CIC for the first time. While simultaneously eating strips of jerky from the bag, I went up and down the center of the ship, examining controls and displays, tapping un-monitored consoles, and performing other miscellaneous activities. Everything looked impossibly futuristic and indecipherable. I honestly couldn't imagine actually operating anything on the ship. It was all fairly overwhelming. And realizing I was just wasting time again, I decided to continue up to the bridge while finishing off the last strip of jerky in the meal. After approaching the bridge and taking a left into the ship's airlock, I tossed the empty snack bag over my shoulder.

_I'll let a dock hand take the fall for that-_

And the Normandy's VI immediately went to work once I was inside the airlock. "Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere."

Then the room started hissing, which caused me to jump.

_GOD. I'm never going to get used to that sound._

When it finally finished, and the doors finally slid open however, I took a couple steps out onto the dock before immediately freezing. Far across from me on the next dock over, across the 200 meter gap, was a sniper. I legit almost drew my gun and started firing, thinking he was about to kill someone before I noticed the blockade of C-Sec officers to my right.

_Oh god. What's happening-_

Following their gaze, my sight was then led to two girls standing further away on my left. The one who's face I _could_ see had a shaved head and was wearing those weird Mass Effect-patented leather overalls. The girl standing before her with her back turned to me had red hair, a red suit, and a bunch of black guns on her back.

_Most definitely Shepard._

Although I hadn't seen that armor before.

_Must be new._

I THEN noticed a C-Sec officer out of the corner of my eye motioning for me to walk toward him. And I had just begun contemplating it until the high pitched voice of the women Shepard was talking to caused me to stand stiff. Unfortunately...I could hear everything from where I stood.

"-animals don't get names...the masters put their symbols on her. Hot metal all over her back. She screams when they do it." The traumatized woman shuddered as she said it.

_What. The. Fuuuuuuu-_

"You're not an animal. You're a Human being. Your parents...do you remember them? What did they call you?"

"She remembers a lot of things...Talitha. They call her that. She...she doesn't remember the rest. Leave her alooone!"

_This some Gollum shit right there. What the hell's happening right now?!_

I looked back to the C-Sec agents who stared at me, jerking their heads, trying to convey that I needed to get out of the area.

"Someone said you were from...Mindoir." The word seemed choked. "...what's the last thing you remember?"

I turned my attention back to the duo and found Talitha's eyes becoming watery. "Fires. Smells of smoke and burning meat. Animals screaming as the masters caged them."

_Jesus..._

"As they put the metal to their backs." She rubbed her gun against her head. "As they put wires into their brains." Then she started whispering to no one beside her. "She pretends to be dead. If she's dead they can't work." Then she snapped her attention back to Shepard. "But they Knooow! She hopes they leave. But they put her in the pen. She didn't fight. She was already broken when they put the wires in."

Shepard immediately barked back at her.

"You couldn't have fought them off when you were a child! They were bigger than you. There were more of them. They would have killed you." I thought at first she was being harsh. But I realized the tone in Shepard's voice wasn't exactly abrasive. It sounded more like she was distressed herself. Like she wasn't just convincing the girl in front of her.

"She wants to believe that. She wants to believe nothing could have changed. She doesn't want to be there anymore. In the pen, in the cages. Lying quiet while they do things to her." Tears were streaming down her face now. The sight was disquieting. Disturbing. Then Shepard took a slow step toward her.

The girl reeled back shouting. "NO! She's no good! She doesn't want to be handled again!"

"Talitha. It's alright...how did you get here? Did you escape?"

"She can't escape. They have chains. Wires. Needles. You go too far, they take your brains away. Animals like her come. Animals with guns. They make the masters explode. She tries to fix the masters, so they won't be mad at her. She puts all the reds and purples back in, but they don't move...the other animals take her."

"You were afraid. All you had known for thirteen years was the abuse of those Batarians. And then Humans came to save you. But you...still tried to help your...slavers. Why."

"She doesn't want to see other animals. They're not real. They can't be real. They can't see her. But the animals can see her." She started looking around like she had just woken up. "Then this is real. But it can't be...the wires, the chains, the hitting...this doesn't happen to her. It's another girl, a dirty girl, a STUPID GIRL." She was shouting again. "SHE deserves it! It happens to HER!...doesn't it? They see HER so it's reeeal. But she doesn't want it to be real!"

"She doesn't want-" The girl threw her arms up. "DON'T TOUCH HER!"

Shepard stopped her step forward. Then she softly asked something else, so soft I almost didn't catch it. "What happened to your parents?"

"There's...she sees them. They're yelling." She looks up to the sky. "RUN! HIDE!" Then she jerked her head down. "They hit the masters. But the masters have lights and hoses. DADDY'S-HE'S MELTING!" She buried her face in her hands. "SHH. Sh. She doesn't WANT to see THAT! Don't make her look! Stupid! STUPID!"

"I don't want to HEAR that! You survived the raid. You survived thirteen years in a slave pen. You are strong enough to deal with a memory!" Shepard told her, trying to convince her. But...again...I felt like she wasn't just addressing Talitha.

"She's not strong! She's Weak and Stupid! All Humans are!...that's what the masters say. She sees them. Mommy and daddy...burning in white light. Melting, going to pieces. They can't even say anything to herrr-" Tears were streaming down her face again. "...They're dead Shepard. They tried to save her and the masters burned them!...Can she stop remembering now PLEAASEE!?"

Shepard took another step closer. "Hey, everything's going to be alright."

"Pleeease don't touch her. She's dirty. You'll catch it."

"Talitha..." the red-haired woman's words sounded pained. "I was there. I saw my parents die too. Die because of me." Shepard choked her last sentence out.

_...was she really-_

I turned away from the sight, looking at my feet.

"LYING! You get hit for lying! You get the buzz or the burning, can't be there. WHY ARE YOU ALIVE!...why are you. Why aren't YOU like her? Broken! Only fit to dig and carry-"

"Because I ran." Shepard almost whispered it, nearly too soft for me to even hear again. "They came into our house. My dad fought them and yelled to run. We tried but something hit our house, artillery, explosives." She stopped again. "I got out of the rubble and ran...I never looked back...I already knew they were dead."

"Dead animals can't work. You lose your mommy and daddy...but you don't dig, you don't carry. You stand up...she wishes she could stand up."

"Talitha." I looked back up and saw Shepard getting something from her belt. "This will make you sleep. If you fall asleep, they can take you to a place where you can get better."

The girl stared at Shepard's outstretched hand for a solid minute. I stood where I was holding my breath. After what felt like hours, Talitha slowly reached over and took the pill out of Shepard's hand. She pushed it to her lips and swallowed. Then she looked back up at Shepard with the eyes of a doe.

"Will she have bad dreams?"

"No. You won't dream at all." Shepard slowly coerced the girl into her arms and embraced her.

"She'd like that. It hurts when she...when I remember. Me. But she wants to. Remember...Shepard. I remember you..." Her eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and she started to slip out of her arms. But Shepard caught her before she hit the ground, and quickly scooped her up in her arms. She then began walking back toward the C-Sec barricade. I shadowed her, making sure to stay several feet behind.

"Is she…?" one of the C-Sec agents said tailoring off.

"I got her to take the sedative."

"Thank you Commander. That means a lot. I didn't want to hurt her. It's just-when I see her curled into a ball and shivering...I was there Commander. One of the first responders to the attack. It was horrifying. And she was only six when they took her. Six! Why the hell are we out here if we can't even keep one little girl safe!?"

Shepard responded passionately. "To make people who do these things pay. It's not the severity of punishment that deters crime. It's the certainty of it. Although it's not like the savages out here would even understand that. That's why we have to demonstrate it to them."

"So we clean up the wreckage, shoot the guilty, and hope everyone else learns not to mess with us?! Great…" His remark obviously hurt Shepard, as she noticeably trembled at the criticism. At his challenge of her dogma. "I'll take care of it from here Commander. Thank you again."

He took Talitha from Shepard's arms and the other officers started packing up their setup. One of them radioed that the dock was clear. And just like that, they were gone. We were left there, standing silently on the dock for a long time before I found the words to talk.

"...Shepard-"

"Don't." She stood there, back turned to me, head to the ground. "...Hmph. I could use those drinks right about now."

"uh-"

She continued to stare at the ground with her back to me, whispering her words.

"Send a message to Kaidan. Tell him to meet me at Flux with Ash."

"I, uh, I don't have his number."

She activated her omni-tool and waved it without turning around. "Now you do." Then she slowly started to move her feet in the direction of the elevator.

* * *

We found the rest of the team already chilling at a table when we got there. Which had two seats saved for us. When Kaidan had gotten my message, he apparently set out word to the entire gang. That or they were all already hanging out with each other. Regardless, at least now I had an excuse to stay with them too. Shepard ended up taking the seat between Kaidan and Ashley, at the head of our oblong table. And I took a seat in the only other chair available. With the table's elongated shape, it really didn't seem like we had eight people squeezed into one spot.

And by just looking at her, you'd never have dreamed of what had just occurred out on the dock. The only time I seemed to be able to read her was when she was angry. But I stopped staring at Shepard when she noticed me, and instead, decided to take a look around.

Flux was crowded. We were in what was normally the center of the club back in Mass Effect. I found a lot of the other tables here placed toward the left of Flux's entrance. And what caught my eye at of the other tables near the window? Joker of all people. In fact, I recognized some of the crew from the bridge sitting with him there too. I gave a half-hearted wave in response, but I didn't seem to catch his eye.

Deciding to move past him and finish the rest of my ocular patdown, I then scanned to the right, past the giant column of tables. The bar at the back of the club was buzzing with activity and I noticed that the casino above it was pretty full too. The dance floor located to our right however was totally unoccupied, save for a single microphone stand in the center of it. I brought my attention back to the group as Shepard danced around the question of where we were just now coming back from. Kaidan gave a quick glance in my direction as she did. It seemed almost accusational.

_Why-No. Dude! NO! That's not it at all-_

But thankfully, he was quickly distracted from his suspicions by our Asari server asking for an order. I let out a sigh.

"Wow, real menus," Ashley remarked quietly. "Usually you just get data pads."

"We like to hold ourselves to a higher standard here," our waitress replied overhearing her. "You won't find anything but the finest at our establishment."

I decided to take a look at one of said menus lying in front of me. And I squinted my eyes picking it up.

_... I can't read this._

It was all alien mumbo jumbo. I flipped to the other side and found it covered in the same glyphs. I drummed my fingers along the menu's back.

_So...great. What now. I read English not-_

My omni-tool flashed on.

_-Ah._

Suddenly, I found that the edge of the menu was now legible. I moved the rest of my hand over the menu and found the omni-tool now impressively displaying a second 'page' over the menu's selection. Whatever it covered was translated into broken English.

_Oh. Okay. Cool. Cool._

Then I actually read the translated thing. Another problem. I had no idea what I was looking at. Again.

_Nathak cutlets brined in an Asari honey marinade. Broiled guklang with Tummy Tingling Tuchanka sauce. Seared shruck steak (Dextro-only.) _

Half of the menu actually wouldn't sound that bad if I only knew what the hell they were. I had trouble just pronouncing some of the names in my head. The absence of actual descriptions for the food just made it worse.

"Are you ready to order sir?"

I looked up shocked. The waitress was already waiting for my order. I hadn't even heard her take Tali's on my right. I looked back down to the menu and decided I would just stick with the drinks.

"And what would you like to drink sir?"

_Oh. Uh..._

There were a million drinks in the Mass Effect universe. Literally. Dozens introduced over the game. Some even the subject of some side missions. So I named the first one that came to mind.

"How much is a glass of Serrice Ice brandy?"

_If it was around 50, I GUESS that would be fine. The credits I had scavenged c-_

"We sell bottles here for 1,255 credits."

I would have done a spit take if I already had a drink in my hand. That was a little out of my price range. "Oh...uh, no, you know what? That's fine then. I think I'll just get..." I racked my brain for the next thing I could think of. I knew there had been like a dozen mix drinks that was rattled off in the Citadel DLC too. And if they exist in the game, I just needed to name one. But-

"Do you guys know how to make a..." I racked my mind for all of one second before one popped up. "-tasty tankard?"

She raised an eyebrow looking at her data pad. "Yes, of course. And I find our cocktails are a little more sensibly priced. I'll put you down for one." She typed something on the data pad in her hand and proceeded to ask Liara what she wanted to my left, who was currently sitting at a head of the table.

"What the hell's a 'Tasty Tankard'," Shepard demanded from my right on the other end.

Hell if I knew. I only remembered that Grunt ordered it at the party. And that I remembered it sounding really good. I was still in the process of thinking what I was going to say before our server suddenly cut in.

"If memory serves, it contains Irish cream, coconut rum, iced chocolate, and butterscotch schnapps."

_Oh. That's why._

"Oh my god," Ashley giggled.

"Is that even alcoholic?"

_Oh ha ha Shepard. You're hilarious._

"That's the least manliest drink I've ever heard of. And I've drunken with Asari," Wrex bellowed across from me. Liara looked up at him concerned before going back to her menu.

"Don't mind them honey," our server said to me before asking Liara what she wanted to drink.

"I'm revoking your man card," the Krogan continued.

"He had to have one for you to revoke it," Shepard added.

"Hey," I shot back at both of them. "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm going to order it, I'm going to drink it, and I'm going to enjoy it. And you wanna know why? Because I AM a man. And real men don't give a Fuck about what you think."

_Cursing out a Krogan. That was a new one. _

It also happened to be almost as much a death sentence as cursing out the Commander. I only hoped that I could at least get a sip of my drink before they both finished disemboweling me. In fact, I got ready to split as I would never survive either's reprisal. But surprisingly, Wrex just ended up chuckling. "Hehe, looks like someone just decided to grow a quad!" Then he leaned forward to say something else. But as he did, the Asari server who had just written down Liara's order of a Thessian Temple interrupted Wrex before he could go on. In response, he asked her for, how surprising, a glass of ryncol.

"Soooo-what did _you_ guys get up to yesterday?" Garrus asked changing the subject.

"Right, you were still with your buddies from C-Sec when we finished weren't you?" Ashley replied. "Shield and I informed Kahoku about what happened on Edolus. Then we met back up with Shepard on the Presidium."

"We talked to Anderson and Udina about our next leads. And they told us they didn't have any. So we're right back where we started." Shepard stared at her fists on the table. She was obviously frustrated by it. But then she quickly added, "But you remember that slaving operation we shut down in Macedon?"

"Yeah," I affirmed for him. The first mission we _weren't _taken on.

"Well I got a message from an ambassador on the Presidium before the Normandy was brought to dock. Told me to meet her the Embassy bar. So I stopped by while we were there to see what she wanted. And guess what her name was?" She let a beat pass by before answering her own question. "...Nassana Dantius."

_Oh. That was the mission they did?_

"Wait. Dantius? Wasn't that the name of the Asari that was running the operation?" Tali asked.

"Yup."

"Apparently the entire reason she wanted to see Shepard was so we would help 'rescue' her sister from the slavers," Kaidan interrupted Shepard.

"Rescue? But I thought you just said the sister _was_ the slaver?" the Quarian asked again.

"It was a trick," Garrus deduced.

"Exactly," Shepard affirmed. "Apparently dear old sis was giving their family a bad name so Nassana wanted her gone. Wanted to dupe us into doing her dirty work. Which we unwittingly ended up doing anyways."

"Liquefied Turian," Garrus now told the server.

"Wow. That's messed up."

"You're telling me."

"So what'd you do when you found out?"

"We had a good laugh and got some weapons licenses for our trouble," Shepard told her. And then it hit me.

_Oh my god. This is actually happening. I'm sitting with a bunch of fictional characters at a table inside a night club. This is really going down. Mass Effect. Shepard. Hngh._

I was still trying to grasp the situation when a Volus lowered the mike on the dance floor and spoke into it, interrupting Liara who was just in the process of asking Shepard about her new uniform. I had to admit I had been a little curious about it too. It looked just like Tela Vasir's. Spectre gear I realized.

"Well ladies and gentlemen," the Volus boomed over the room's ambient music. "I hope you are all enjoying your night as much as I am so far! My name is Doran and I have the fortune to be the owner of this fine establishment! As well as the cook, bartender, and casino manager. The reason I'm up here though is because I also happen to have the fortune of being your host for Karaoke tonight! It's about time we kicked things up a notch!" He made a cute little kick with his leg. "So whichever brave souls wish to come up and display their vocal talents, be my guest!" I was still caught up on...

_...Karaoke Night?_

He waddled off the stage as a Salarian strided on after.

"This should be good," Ashley commented snidely.

"Can we expect to see you up there anytime during the night Commander?" Kaidan asked playfully.

"No," she responded, downing one of the drinks the Asari waitress had already brought back to our table.

"Is the great Commander Shepard backing down from a challenge?" Ashley joked.

When Tali's drink was placed in front of her, she pulled something out her pouch and inserted it into the cup.

Liara looked intrigued. "Ah. I was wondering how you were going to partake Tali. Emergency induction port. Clever!"

"Thank you!"

_Hngh._

"...In-induction port?"

"...It's a straw."

* * *

**Just a Few Drinks Later.**

"By the goddess, that's awful!" Liara sputtered.

"Keelah..." Tali muttered.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Krogan have four testicles," Ashley chimed in.

"What did you think quad meant?" I teased her from across the table.

"I didn't realize they were referring to their junk," she snipped back.

"So how'd you catch him?" Shepard now probed Garrus.

"That's the worst part. We never did," Garrus replied.

"What?" everyone asked alarmed.

"Why the hell not," Shepard started angrily. "What the hell happened?"

"He ran. Blew his lab, took some of his employees and headed for the nearest space dock. By the time we found out, his ship was already leaving. He threatened to kill his hostages if we tried to stop him."

"That's sick," Kaidan said disgusted.

"What happened next?" Liara asked hesitantly.

"You shot him of the sky! Right?!" Shepard asked indignant.

"I tried. But C-Sec countermanded my order. They were worried about hostages, civilian casualties if the ship was destroyed so close to the Citadel."

"But the hostages would have been dead anyway if he escaped!" Shepard reasoned.

Garrus agreed. "That's what I said. But they wouldn't have it."

"No wonder you wanted to leave. What idiots!" Shepard spat drunkenly. She had already gone through nine drinks by now. All of it heavy stuff. It was almost surreal watching her do it. Any normal person would be out by now. But of course, this was Shepard we're talking about here. So she continued to be a champ and still took another swig from her glass before continuing. "You're telling me they just let him FLY away?"

"Yes. Yes, they did."

"If that happened in the fleet, the captains would never have let them escape," Tali said next, heavily slurring her words while she was at it. She was the opposite of Shepard, only on her third cup and already sloshed. "Blast them in space. Boom." She emphasized with her hands.

"All they had to do was disable that ship, and stop him from running. Maybe the hostages die, maybe they don't, but at least we stop the bastard responsible for it," Garrus continued.

"Don't you think that's a little callous Garrus?" Liara timidly asked, still sipping on her first glass.

"A few casualties is a small price to pay to stop someone like that," Shepard said sharing her two cents.

"Yeah, exactly."

_You Psychopath. Don't encourage that!_

"You guys can't be serious," my mouth decided to go and speak for me. And instead of thinking I just murmured it, I had instead garnered everyone's attention. At this point, all I could do was own up to it. Stupid booze brain. "You can't endanger innocents to just to get one man! You obviously don't let him get away but you don't just disregard the lives you're putting at risk while doing it!"

"You don't even know what you're talking about. You have zero experience with hostage situations or extracting a VIP. Don't you even pretend like you can lecture us," Shepard spat at me caustically.

"You don't know that," I replied.

_Yeah, she didn't. And neither did I._

But saying that only caused her to narrow her eyes. Reminded her of how much she actually trusted me. "And how exactly would you tell Garrus to do his job?" Shepard asked scathingly.

"Uh..."

_Damn. How would I?_

"...Distraction? You send a diversion team to distract the guy right? Then get one infiltrator onto the vessel and take him out before he hurts the hostages."

"Because that would be so easy," Shepard immediately scoffed, cutting off Garrus from saying what he had wanted.

"You're telling me one professional or hell, that _you_ couldn't do that Shepard?"

She got even angrier with the remark. "No. But how would you even get them aboard genius?"

"Oh! With the fire team! They board the vessel threatening they'll kill the doctor if he kills the hostages. Stand off. The assassin would be on that very ship and maneuver around in the ducts, or whatever, until he found and killed the dude while they were distracted."

"The hostages would be killed as soon as that transport came into sight-"

"So after that he just disappeared?" Kaidan suddenly spoke, finally interrupting our hypothetical. In response, I leaned back in my chair and grabbed my drink, draining the rest of it.

_Whatever._

"Oh, right. Well I've sent out feelers from time to time hoping to find something. And I thought I found something awhile back. He apparently changed-"

"-to the hieRACHYYYYYYY! MAY THE PRIMARCH FAVOR THEEEEE!"

Garrus scowled at the group of Turians taking bows as they walked off the stage.

"That's the worst thing I've ever heard," Wrex said slamming himself back down in the chair besides Garrus. He placed four mugs on the table.

"Turian imperial anthem. Their rendition hardly did it justice though. It's an exceptional song," Garrus said in its defense.

"Sure it is," Ashley coyly remarked.

"Those earlier acts certainly could give it a run for its money," Kaidan added.

"God, did you actually listen to that Elcor?" Ashley laughed.

"Yes. You've mentioned him like four times now," Kaidan replied annoyed.

"It WAS pretty funny," Tali said snorting.

"High pitched: And Iiiiiii will cherish youuuuuuU!"

And I had to admit, Ashley did a pretty good impression. Kaidan couldn't quite suppress a grin as he heard her. And neither could Shepard. Now I found THAT face was actually alarming, ever more so than the shrill sound that had come out of the Elcor's mouth minutes before.

"I thought the Salarian singer before him was quite good," Liara said quietly.

"I'm pretty sure his falsetto destroyed my eardrums," Wrex grumped beside her, scratching where said ear hole supposedly was.

"Yeaaaah, I could totally do better," I said, slyly taking one of Wrex's mugs at the same time. I didn't have the money to afford more.

"Hey!" Wrex growled. I met his stare and slowly brought the drink to my lips. "Don't you dare."

The Alliance marines continued to debate who had been the worst act so far.

"If I can drink this before you can finish yoursssss," I said suddenly leaning forward. "How bout it's a gift between friends."

"Are you challenging me to a drink off?" he said in his gravelly voice, claws banging on the table. Then a Krogan grin spread across his face. It was absolutely terrifying. "You're on. And if you lose, you're paying for all of these!" He grabbed a mug and starting pouring the swill down his throat. My eyes grew wide with the rate it was disappearing. I immediately got to work and started chugging.

I spit out the first mouthful. "AGH, MAI MOUF," I gargled in pain.

"Trying to out drink a Krogan? Rookie mistake," Garrus said nodding his head next to Wrex.

The Krogan slammed his mug back on the table and laughed. "That's burukh for you. Set aflame and served boiling hot. Even real MEN have trouble drinking the stuff."

"Jack ass," Shepard muttered from across the table.

I held my hands over my mouth. "A fhruck you fhwrex," I guttered at him.

"I'll fetch you some water," Liara said getting up from her seat.

Tali piped up next to me. "Correct me if I'm wrong (hiccup), but did you just say a couple seconds ago that you could (hiccup), do better than that Salarian sopranooo(hiccup)?"

"I don't think he's in the state to even complete a coherent sentence let alone sing," Garrus voiced while crossing his arms.

"Maybe...maybe not. But if he sings like he drinks, I'm pretty sure we'd all suffer."

_Fuck you Ashley._

"I totally could," I replied scowling, tongue still searing in pain, it being a wonder that the words leaving my mouth were even intelligible. Wrex took back his drink and started downing it too now.

_That Salarian sounded like a bullfrog. I could literally make a sound with my armpit and it would be ten times as pleasant-_

"Why don't you PRove it?" Ashley said obnoxiously besides Tali now.

"Yeah, show everyone what you're made of," Kaidan joined in.

Ashley motioned towards the stage.

_On second thought though-_

"Uuuuh, naaaw. Maybe some other time."

"Oh? Is someone...chicken?"

"BAwk."

"What's a chicken?"

"BaWK."

"What are you guys, five?"

"Bawk baWK."

Garrus was lost. Tali was too most likely. Probably didn't know much about Earth poultry. Wrex was too distracted drinking to care. Then Doran came waddling back onto the stage. "Well it's getting to be that time folks. Any last volunteers for wowing us?"

"Oh oh!" Ashley said raising her hand. "He'll do it!" She pointed to me.

_Damn youuuuuu-_

Kaidan laughed as she did, and Shepard just covered her face in what could only be embarrassment. Or more like annoyance.

_Oh okay. Fine. You know what? LETS GO._

"FINE."

I stood up, knocking back my seat, causing the jaws of several at our table to drop.

_Yeah, that's right-_

"I volunteer as tribute!"

I expected some laughs from the Humans after saying that, but they all just stared at me like I was jack ass. Then I realized they had all missed my sick reference by about 200 years.

_Not that the delivery was that great anyway. Sigh._

* * *

**At The Same Time...**

"And the Chief Engineer said 'That's not my dog, that's a Turian!'"

Joker had to laugh at that one.

"Turian jokes? Alright, alright. I got one for ya. What do you call a squad of Turians fighting a spiky headed monster?"

"Friendly fire! Come on, that one's been around for decades!" Joker said laughing.

This was just what he needed.

"Fair enough," Gladstone replied defeated.

"Enough of the Turian bashing guys," Talitha whispered. "There's some right over there." She conspicuously pointed to the table next to them.

"Lighten up, they're just jokes!"

"Still," Rosey replied, deciding to agree with her sister.

"Fiiiiine," Harry whined. Then he went wide-eyed. "Hey, hey." He nudged Gladstone beside him. "Isn't that the guy Shepard brought on the ship? Maroon what's his face?"

Joker carefully shifted in his chair. The ensign was right. It was definitely Rod. And then he saw Shepard. And Kaidan. And Ashley and Garrus and oh my god-

_What the hell. They didn't invite us out with them? _

That kind of hurt his feelings. Apparently the fire team was too _COOL_ to be seen with the geeks on the bridge. But he quickly disregarded them as he watched Shield walk onto the stage and started whispering into the Volus' ear. Or where they should be at least.

"Is he going to sing?"

"...Well folks. Looks like we have our last entertainer for the night! Mr. Shield! Give him a hand!"

He clapped. One of the few.

"Guess so."

_Oh ho ho, no way. This is going to be good._

He activated his omni-tool and got the holo-cam ready to record.

_Can't wait to include this in the Normandy newsletter._

He stood there adjusting the mike before two waitresses brought over a flat surface.

"Oh, uh, thanks," Rod told them through the mike before they walked back off the stage. He looked at the thing nervously before picking some gloves off it. And then started staring at the gloves in his hand instead.

_Gold._

He eventually figured out how they work, wisely putting them over his hands and then flicked the haptic interface of the table on. It's surface now resembled the keys of an old-fashioned keyboard.

_Hoh, does he actually know how to play?_

He cautiously looked at them, tapping a key timidly before suddenly drawing back his finger. Then he clicked some of the buttons above them, activating percussion and random guitar chords. It took all his effort to keep from bursting out laughing.

_I'll get a hundred hits at least. Maybe a thousand._

"Is he just messing with us right now?" Gladstone asked the table appalled.

"Hey, give him a sec. He's probably just really, really hammered," Harry joked.

"Give the guy a chance," Rosey chimed in. "I didn't see you up there tonight."

"My throat's sore," Harry joked.

"Long night with Harvey huh?" Talitha shout over the loud sounds of the club with a grin, seeing her opportunity to strike.

"Shut up," Harry replied with a beet-red face.

"Walked right into that one," Gladstone laughed. "Hey wait a second-"

And then, right after he said that, Shield started to play. Pretty well in fact.

Du du du du du du du-

Du du du du du du du-

The tune was catchy. He kept repeating it and then, clicked something on the holographic display in front of him. Percussion was immediately mixed in with his melody. He actually looked surprised with his success. And Joker could see why. Didn't look like he knew how to operate the thing, but he still seemed to be doing a pretty damn good job.

Bum bum bum bum bum bum-

Bum bum bum bum bum bum-

Bow bow bow bow bow bow bow bow-

Bow bow bow bow bow bow bow bow-

He took his eyes off the keyboard and turned them onto the audience in front of him.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to the worst person I know-"

* * *

Cue 'Commander Shepard - The Song' By Miracle of Sound. Open the song on Youtube, play it in all its splendor, and hell, sing along with it! I know I do.

* * *

*wicked guitar solo*

Du du du du Du.

Joker looked down at his 'tool and realized he never pressed record.

_Aw._

* * *

Codex Entry:

**File Pulled from MASM Database By Network Hands: **

The Mindoir Raid and its Outcomes

By Eddie Lang

Mindoir Academy of Science and Math

Ms. Kohlberg's History class

21/05/2178

Mindoir was originally a small human farming colony located in the Attican Traverse. A small backwater not of any real significance to the Systems Alliance. But that all changed when the slavers attacked 2170 CE. From reports of those first to respond, the entirety of slavers encountered on the ground seemed to be Batarians. When the Hegemony was called to testify for these individuals' actions however, they merely claimed they were 'rogue agents' acting of their own accord. Whether they truly were independent operators or proxies supported by the Hegemony is still unknown to this day.

They attacked the colony reportedly in the early morning, while most of the colonists still lied asleep. Within three hours, the slavers had entrenched themselves within the colony's battlements, controlling every defense battery and the entirety of the colony borders. Fortunately, the few guards posted there were able to send out an emergency broadcast before the colony fell, alerting the Alliance. Underestimating the colony's assailants, Admiral Zander sent the SSV Einstein and 23rd Flotilla of the Second Fleet in response. Upon entering the planet's orbit, Zander found the carrier's fighters immediately blown out of the sky. Despite the absence of air superiority, he gave the order for drop ships to land on the planet's surface. The Alliance troops dispatched to the ground met heavy resistance and were kept largely at bay on the outskirts of the colony.

Now seeing the gravity of the situation, Admiral Zander called for additional support. His mistake however had already cost them the battle, as the slavers hacked the colony's defense batteries' IFFs. While the Admiral's forces in space were forced to keep their distance, the slavers were able to slip away with whatever colonists that had not been slaughtered. By the time Alliance information analysts aboard the ships noticed the slavers leaving the planet's orbit, the slavers had already escaped into FTL travel. Though the Admiral ordered pursuit, none were caught.

The Alliance marines on the ground of Mindoir saw the devastation there first hand. First hand accounts reported the sight of houses demolished, dead laying in the streets, and the sky completely blotted by smoke. The success of the slaver's raid on Mindoir was a major blow to the Alliance's reputation. The failure of Admiral Zander to adhere to the Alliance Doctrine (not responding with 'overwhelming force' and underestimating the colony's assailants), the brutality of rogue factions in the Traverse (namely Batarian slavers), and the escape of the party responsible led to major discussions of colonial safety and Alliance policy to leave only token garrisons in defense. The policies created to address these issues slowly lost traction over time and were forgotten almost entirely by 2173 CE. This led to a rise in Human colonies skirting the Terminus systems to become disenfranchised with the Alliance, their opinion of the organization slowly growing more and more negative over the years.

The failure of the Alliance to protect its colony on Mindoir is a major factor that historical analysts attribute to pirates from the Terminus systems becoming bold enough to launch their infamous attack on Elyisum 2176 CE, known colloquially as the 'Skyllian Blitz.' The failure of Admiral Zander in his attempt to save the colony due to his hubris led to his demotion to Captain. And a large majority of the marines that were on Mindoir ended up leaving the Alliance military, either due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from the horrors they saw on the ground, or due to a sudden disenfranchisement with the Alliance for their failure in defending the colony. Although the Mindoir Colony was rebuilt by 2176 CE, much of its original infrastructure had been lost.

In conclusion, while the raid on Mindoir didn't change anything largely in the Alliance itself, it did affect its standing with its peers, including its citizens, its enlisted, and its enemies. Today, Mindoir still hasn't recovered itself from the tragedies of the raid. Many of the people taken then still live on as slaves in Batarian labor camps as well.

_Edward, while your understanding of the raid's impact on Alliance relations was very insightful, you neglected to mention the Alliance policies passed in the raid's response for colonial defenses entirely. So I'm giving you a C+. I'm disappointed you failed to research the most influential event of the colony you live in and in the future, I hope you take your assignments much more seriously. And use your proper name when turning in a paper of academia._

Scribbled at the bottom of the paper are the words 'Old hag.'

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**The Commander Shepard Song by Miracle of Sound is just one of many masterpieces this great artist has made. You should really check out his work, everything he makes is usually a treasure. The song itself is a quintessential part of Mass Effect however, and if you haven't heard it before now, I pity your ignorance****. While corny, I refuse to stifle the narrative by choosing to abstain from including it. ****If you're chilling with Commander Shepard and DON'T mention this song...that would be plain criminal. Not gonna lie, I typed the entire thing down from my head before deciding to get rid of it too. Gonna toot my own horn a little, I can play the instrumental part for it prett-ty well.**

**Also, I knew about the specific background missions for each Shepard, but I don't think I've ever actually done any of them. I usually play a Spacer and I've still never run into that guy with PTSD or done the one where a old gang member asks you for help. So Shield would honestly have had no idea who Talitha was or anything about her confrontation with Shepard if I didn't have the ME wiki on hand when it went down. Which I didn't in the story. So, no idea what that was all about. And Eddie. If you're a war hero, he mentions that he watched your award ceremony on Mindoir, so even though his grandfather was a cop back on Earth, I'm assuming the dude must have grown up there. And that Mindoir was rebuilt afterwards.**

**This AN is becoming another story all in its self but I still have one last confession to make. 'Shruck steak' was borrowed from the oneshot 'The Peanut Butter Principle' by ElectricZ. Really spot on character interactions and a great light-hearted story. You should definitely check it out if you have time. Aaaaand that should about do it. For now. **

**In the Next Chapter: You got to fight. Fight for your right. To PAAAARTAAAAY.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	17. Flux Follow up

As I finished the last note, I took a deep breath and looked up from the keyboard.

The room was silent.

..._damn. Please tell me I wasn't just imagining all that-_

The room broke into a polite applause, aside from the bridge crew and some of the Eclectic Eight who were a little more obnoxious. Someone gave a shrill whistle as I gave a single wave back. I didn't forget to lower the mike for Doran as he waddled back onto the stage not a second later.

"Please give Mr. Shield another round of applause for coming up! And another for honoring the decorated war hero in our audience, Commander Shepard!" A little louder applause came this time around, one that the Commander herself didn't particularly seem to appreciate. "And now, in a second, we'll have the floor cleared for dancing!" He showed off a couple of his moves to demonstrate.

_HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-_

I stared at him silent until he finished, and then thanked him for his kindness. I also asked if I might be able to make a song request before he left. He told me he would take it into consideration. After that, I then took off the weird gloves, tossed them back onto the holographic synthesizer and then left the stage. I slowly walked back over to my chair and then, completely exhausted, sat myself down. I found the table was rather silent when I did.

"...what was THAT?"

Ashley was apparently in drunken awe. Shepard and Kaidan were staring at me kinda weird though. Looking back at it, I realized, yeah, the song might have been a little weird. Considering the circumstances.

_Oh. What the...what did I just do. I said her name like twenty times...agh...why booze brain...WHY DID YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA-_

"... I mentioned I was a fan right?...I mean Torfan?!" I let out a laugh like it was a joke.

_What else has Shepard done that would remotely be reasonable for me having a song about her._

"So that wasn't on the spot?" Tali asked curious.

"Obviously not," Ashley said with a smirk. "Apparently the Commander has a fan-"

"No. Haha, god no. Uh...I actually heard it from a...some drunk marines on Elysium. And I just remembered it. I'm with the ACTUAL Commander Shepard right now aren't I? The fact that I remembered it all, is...I guess you could say...a miracle of sound."

_Yeaaaaaah. *cue CSI theme*_

I giggled at my own joke_._ Wrex just glared at me in response. "I think someone can't handle their liquor. Not that you actually had any."

"WREX! I can outdrink you anytime, anywhere!"

And with that, the topic seemed to get dropped.

"You do realize you already challenged him and lost right?" Kaidan pointed out, sounding a little too sober.

"I couldn't physically drink the stuff! If we had a real contest, he'd go down quicker than a cheap prom date."

"Maybe you should lay off the drinks for now," Garrus suggested.

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my supervisor!"

_Your references are out of control dawg._

I giggled to myself again. And with that, they all rolled their eyes again.

"You're a grown man giggling! Have you no shame?!" Wrex thundered.

That just made me laugh harder.

When I finally calmed down enough to be aware of my surroundings again, everyone seemed to be just enjoying each other's company. Shepard was whispering something into Kaidan's ear. Tali and Ashley were talking passionately about _something _on my right with Garrus kind of awkwardly listening across from them. Looking at Wrex, he seemed content to just drink. To be honest, it was the first time I really felt that our crew was actually getting along. Then I realized why the table seemed a little empty. I wasn't hearing anything from Liara. I turned to my left to gaze at her. She seemed to be lost in thought, staring quietly at the table.

"Hey. What's up?"

She snapped her head up to me, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Woah! Didn't mean to scare you."

"What? Oh, oh no! I shouldn't have been startled! I was...I'm...I'm just not used to being in places like... this." Her eyes wandered around the club, her mouth slightly frowning. She fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat.

"More used to the silence of dig sites huh?" I said putting my chin on my fist.

"Yes...I suppose I am." Her eyes wandered to Shepard across the table. "I just wonder why the music in these places are always so loud. It almost seems as if the people here want an excuse not to talk to each other..."

"Yeah...yeah I guess that could be a reason," I told her. Then I became distracted by a tune that had just started to play in the room.

WHAT IS LOVE?

"The Dance Floor is Now OPEN!" Doran announced from somewhere.

BABY DON'T HURT ME.

"What the hell is this?!"

DON'T HURT ME.

I stared at Wrex like he was insane. "A Classic?"

NO MORE.

I couldn't explain how ECSTATIC I was to know that Doran decided to play it. Nothing gets a club going like EDM. But apparently a lot of club goers disagreed, as the song didn't seem to be doing anything for anyone, with most of the patrons in the club still sitting in their seats twiddling their thumbs. Was almost going to write it off as a mistake until some of the waitresses got on the floor and started dancing themselves. That got the party started. The throngs of club goers now began to leave their seats one by one for the dance floor.

"Come on," Shepard said turning to Kaidan, leery-eyed. She had a look on her face I had never seen before.

_Was it...nawwwwww._

She ended up forcing him out of his seat (against his WILL), and starting pulling the biotic to the dance floor with her.

"Hey, wait up!" Ashley shouted, getting up to follow.

And I certainly wasn't going to miss this.

"Come on!" I said turning to my neighbor.

I stood up taking Liara by the hand. "Oh my-" she started as I took her with me toward the stage too.

"Don't forget me!" Tail said popping out of her chair and stumbling drunkenly after us.

Once we were on the dance floor, Liara surprisingly lost her timidness almost immediately. Apparently she was a fan of dancing. A really big fan. She was already doing that Asari head snap while snaking her arms along her body when Tali hopped on to the dance floor beside her, joining in too. Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley were right behind them, breaking it down in a circle.

_Fantastic._

I looked back to the table to still see only Garrus sitting down sipping his drink.

_Wait. Where did Wrex go-_

"Ah what the hell," I heard him go behind me. Which caused me to whip my head back. I noticed the dancers around Wrex were giving him a wide berth as he started boogying. And I almost died right then and there. I quickly turned back around only to find Tali and Liara had joined Shepard's dance circle too. And with that, I nodded in approval and hopped off the stage, walking back to our table.

"Garrus! What are you doing? Why aren't you over there," I shouted over the music, making a gesture back to the dance floor.

"Ah, not exactly my scene," he said rubbing his neck. "And besides. Turians don't dance." He took another gulp from his drink.

"What?! Lies," I retorted. "There's one dancing right there!" I pointed at the alien dancing behind Wrex. The guy was doing the Techno Turian.

_Freakin' Beautiful._

"I mean, you can't be any worse than Shepard," I added still observing the dance floor. Looking at Shepard move though, I found she really wasn't all that bad.

"I don't know..." Garrus said tapering off.

"Hey!"

The voice caused me to turn around, where I found a cute redhead in the club's crimson skin tight uniform standing before me.

"...hey," I replied back.

"Were you the guy who recommended this song to Doran? We screened it before giving Korb the OK to play it and I can only say O.M.G. It's just A-maaaay-ziiiiing!" Her voice peaked, breaking my ear drums.

"Glad you like it!" I replied with a grimace.

_Bringing back the 90's to the 80's (of the 22__nd__ century) baby-_

"Hey, if you actually wanted know the name of the song, it's 'What is Love' by Haddaway. Artist from the 20th Century."

"Really?" she said totally bewildered. "That's crazy! I can't believe they had music like this back then!"

"Yeah..." I said tailoring off. Then I got an idea. A great one as usual. "Hey. Think you can help my friend look for something?" I asked motioning to Garrus.

"Oh sure! What did he lose?"

Garrus peered up from his drink.

"Well, it seems he's dropped his spine around here somewhere. And we can't seem to find it-"

"Alright. Alright, I'll go," he said getting out of his chair. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Yeah Garrus! Show 'em how it's done!" I said, patting him on the shoulder in encouragement as he headed off.

"Soooo. What's your name?" she asked me.

"Oh...uh, Shield. Marauder Shield."

"Oh my gosh! Were you the guy that sang last?! O.M.G. you totally were! I loved your song. It was hilarious!" she giggled. "My name's Rita by the way."

_Well I wouldn't call the song hilar-Oh, it's you!_

"Rita? Hey, you have a sister named Jenna don't you?

She frowned at the name. "Oh her? Yeah. She doesn't work here anymore."

_Ooh. Sore topic._

I looked back to the group. And found myself really wanting to get back to the dance floor. Kaidan was doing something with his hands where he would point at a random person, then clap, and then twist around to do it to someone else. It was incredible. "Welp...nice meeting you Rita. Catch you around!"

WHAT IS LOVE.

"Oh, you too-" she replied before I jumped away, and back towards the crowd of dancing aliens.

DON'T HURT ME.

"Hey I knew you could dance!" I shouted to Garrus joining our little circle.

DON'T HURT ME.

"I never said I couldn't," he said shaking his hips. "I just said Turians don't." Then he eyed the Turian behind Wrex. "Usually."

NO MORE. What is love-

As the sound of Haddaway died away, the familiar music of Purgatory popped on to replace it.

* * *

Mass Effect 3 – Purgatory, OST fixed with bass boost (Play for that nostalgia and mood setting...or you can just keep reading. I'm not your supervisor)

* * *

**Several Hours Later...**

"Wha-," I muttered looking around.

I guess I should have listened to Gary. I must have had too much to drink because the next time I actually looked around me, I was sitting at the bar. Thankfully, still in Flux. Music still blaring.

Turning around, I saw behind my right that a few Asari and Salarians were still dancing on the stage. Moving my eyes across the rest of the room, I found however that most of the tables were now empty, aside from a few here and there. I slowly turned my head back around when I heard him to my left.

"Oh, you're alive?" he joked.

"Unhhh...where did everyone go?" I questioned, tiredly rubbing an eye.

"They all left about an hour ago. Tali had a little too much to drink and apparently made a mess in her suit. Shepard was getting pretty woozy too so the marines took them back to their rooms... don't know where Wrex went though. I thought you were alright until you passed out right where you're sitting."

I decided to lay my head on the counter. It felt cool to the touch.

"Hey Decian, I think we're going to go..."

I slowly raised my head back up and leaned back on my stool to see who the voice had come from. There were three other Turians sitting past Garrus. Two of them missing fringes.

_Gasp. Females._

"Alright girls, I'll give you a call later."

They got up off their stools to leave. "Bye Garrus," one of the girls said as they began to walk away.

The Turian named 'Decian' turned to us smiling. "I think Kyra might have taken to you," he said once they were out of earshot.

"What? No, She was just being friendly."

"Nonsense," I said seeing my entry into the conversation. "She was totally flirting with you dude!"

"Listen to the Human," Decian agreed blindly. "I'll give you her number. You should ask her out sometime."

"Chellick, I already told you. I'm on a deep cover assignment. I don't have time for...distractions."

"Laaaame," I said annoyingly beside him.

"Garrus, you need to expose your frame once in a while-"

_Expose your frame?_

"-Kyra's quite the woman. Her terst is pretty sharp for someone like her-

_The fucks a terst?_

"-although I do find Tandra more to my liking."

"Was...was there was a difference between them?" I now asked absentmindedly. The female that had said goodbye to Garrus had the same green markings as the other one. As well as the same skin tone. And the same face. With the same-

"I didn't realize your friend there was a xenophobe," Chellick remarked disappointed.

_Oh noooo-_

"I'm not a xenophobe," I said alarmed. "I didn't mean-"

"Hah! Take it easy Human. I'm just busting your quad, as you Humans say," the detective said chuckling.

"We don't have quads."

"Oh?...What? Then how do you reprodu-Scratch that. I don't wanna know."

"Kyra's hips have a narrower frame and her fringe hooked down," Garrus told me. "You can also usually tell Turian women apart by looking at the curvature of their mandibles and length of their plates," he added. "Although just listening to the differences in their voice will probably help you the most. That's what they tell the Human officers in C-Sec anyway."

"Ah gotcha." Most of his advice just flew over my head. "Sorry about that man, I didn't mean to insult-"

"Hey don't sweat it," Chellick said waving his arm. "To be honest, that's one of the hardest parts of my job. Dealing with the aliens. I_ still_ can't tell the difference between Elcor male and females. Let alone the Hanar..." He shook his head just saying the word.

"Hanar are mono-gendered like the Asari," Garrus informed him.

"Ugh, don't get me started on Asari," the Turian groaned.

"Don't get him started on Asari," Garrus quickly leaned over whispering.

But my mouth was already opening as he said it. "What's wrong with Asari?"

"What's wrong with-where do I begin?" Chellick began.

Doran just stared at him while cleaning a glass with his dirty rag.

"First, it's the inter-species reproduction. I get why Salarians and Hanar go for it so often. Seventy percent of Salarian males can't mate if they don't have a decent pedigree. And the Hanar couldn't give a damn about physical contact." He made a lewd motion with his fingers. "And that's what it's really all about."

"Another drink please," Garrus told Doran.

"See, species like us-" He motioned at me and then himself, "-we reproduce through physical contact. Same for the Krogan. Although I can see the Asari appeal to them with the genophage and all. Anyway, that's why we have females. Each partner contributes right?" He was slurring his words so much I could barely understand him. "That's not how it goes with Asari. I don't understand the appeal. Sure they have fringes but we're just incompatible. They're just not built like us," he finished.

"It sounds like someone had their heart broken," Doran concluded handing Garrus his drink.

"What? No! That's not it at all," he said defensively.

"So why you don't like Asari," I asked slightly delirious. "Because they're not Turians?"

"No! It's because they're an all-female, and I don't care what they say, all-female species that evolved without a male counterpart. Do you know what that means?"

"No," I replied.

"I'm going to be in the bathroom if you need me," Garrus said getting out of his seat. Chellick ignored him, continuing his lecture.

"They evolved without males. There's no reason for them to be attracted to guys like us. Males. They evolved without a need for us. We're out of the picture. Gone."

"But-" I responded seeing where he was going now. Liara popped into my head.

_Those romance cut scenes couldn't have lied..._

"Dude, Asari are basically Human women with blue skin," I found myself arguing. "They have chests like Human women for nursing babies. And I'm pretty sure they deliver them the same way a Human woman does too."

"Chests? Do you mean those bumps? And that's another reason I don't like Asari! Every time they ask me 'do I wanna dance?' And I say no, because those bumps of theirs just get in the way."

"I still have no idea..." I said tapering off, getting dizzy.

_Ow. My head. Too much..._

"-and oh. Back to my point. Yeah, Turian women have birth canals too. And I've read up on alien physiology. Like our women, it's a source of pleasure for yours too right?"

_EWWWWW-_

"Alrighty then," I said putting my hands over my ears.

"As a race, even between same genders that don't reproduce, there's that presence of enjoyment through the simulation of procreation right? The Asari never have or will have that. Because it's all through their mind." He tapped his noggin. "Get it?"

"Hey! My partner is an Asari!" Another Turian with pink facial markings sat himself down where Garrus had been. "I overheard your little rant here. And I have to say, you're as ignorant as these Humans."

_Hey there..._

"My mate and I have an extremely stable relationship. We enjoy each other's company all the time."

"Sure. Like two friends hanging out okay. But are you actually ever as intimate with her as you would be with one of our females?"

"Yes, in fact, I am. Happened just last night," he replied with a shit-eating grin.

_What is happening. Where did Garrus go._

"And does she say she enjoys it?"

"Every time." The new Turian was practically beaming with pride.

"And there it is. The lie."

"What?" the newcomer sputtered, now getting belligerent.

"Why would she enjoy it? Nothing in their evolutionary timeline would ever lead to them enjoying the same type of sexual acts we do. Nothing's supposed to go in! They have no need or desire for that!"

_OHHHHHH. He was right. All female race. No need for..._

The Turian stood there slack jawed. "But..."

"It's true hon'," our original Asari server said saddling up beside me, dropping off a tray. "We mostly just enjoy the experience of the melding itself. Most of us are aware though that their partners usually want a little more. So any good lover is going to go out of her way to make it a little more enjoyable for their partner. Even if that means stroking their ego a bit."

The Turian stared at her destroyed.

"But-"

"Sorry hon'," she said leaning over me to pat him on the back.

"And that level of manipulation doesn't even touch on how they release pheromones to mind control you!"

"What." the Asari said in response to hearing him.

"I need to...I need something strong," the pink-faced Turian said getting up.

"You can get some drinks right here!" Doran exclaimed.

"Something stronger."

He walked away. Doran started muttering under his breath. And the Asari server continued to stare at Chellick appalled with what had just left his mouth.

"Yeah, you know what you're guilty of. I had a female friend, completely heterosexual. Then she started hanging around an _Asari_. Started making her feel things she would have never normally have felt. Freaked her out. Always used to say the similarities in their femininity were off putting. But by the end of the year, she found her irresistible. Now they're currently shacked up on Illium."

"Yeaaaaah, she was obviously just attracted to her personality. Its why we're able to find partners from every race," the server replied with pride. "Most aliens don't need us as partners, but they want us to be because of the joy we bring them when they're in our company."

"But why? You think Salarian or Human females don't have attractive personalities either?"

"Well-"

"There has to be something that _makes_ you so appealing to every race. Something that makes every race, gender, and being interested. And its mind altering pheromones I tell you!"

The comment actually had her at a loss for words. Although I think it was due more to the statement's ludicrousness than its validity. She turned to look at me, then back to him, and then with a far off look, simply walked away.

"Hm."

_I was not prepared for that class of xenobiology 101._

"Hey," Garrus said just now getting back.

"Hey," I muttered turning to him.

"The Asari censor the extranet for this information, I'm telling you!"

"Uh, I think we're going to head out Chellick."

"Oh really? Well, nice catching up with you then Vakarian."

"Chellick. It's been a pleasant...surprise. I didn't think you came out to places like these anymore after what happened at Purgatory."

"Oh I usually don't," he replied. "I just dropped by to let an informant's relative know they were safe."

_Huh._

"Happened to stay for a drink or two after that and then ran into Tandra and well..."

"An informant's relative? You mean Rita?" I asked.

"What-Ho-How did you know that? She isn't telling people about her sister is she?!" He started looking around for her.

"What? No. I just know a lot of things...things I probably shouldn't. It's Jenna at Chora's Den right?"

"SHHHH! Do you want to blow her cover!? Get her killed or worse?!"

"Woah, sorry," I said putting my hands up.

"And how the hell-"

"What do you have her investigating?" Garrus asked now interested in a conversation.

"Sorry Garrus, it's currently need to know. You never know whose listening."

He turned his head around suspiciously.

"Only me I believe," Doran said from behind the counter. Chellick whipped around to him like the Volus had just popped out of the blue.

"You're trying to catch that dude with the illegal weapon mods right?"

"Wha-How-Garrus. Where'd this guy come from?!"

"Hell if I know," Vakarian responded.

"If it makes you feel any better, I got that from the Broker," I said.

_When in doubt, Shadow Broker. Safety neeeet._

"The Broker. Of course. If it wasn't bankrupting to get the information or forbidden by C-Sec, I'd might ask you who's responsible for producing those mods."

"Couldn't tell ya," I responded.

"Damn," Chellick muttered.

"Well, good luck in your investigation then," Garrus told him. I think he was ready to go at this point. But I wasn't.

"Hey, we could help you out! Do a pick up and bring those mods to you? So you could find where they're coming from...?"

"...Huh...what are you...no...yeah, that could work."

"And that way you wouldn't have to endanger Jenna!"

"Shield that's not-"

"I've been holding onto his contact information for ages. If you're serious, I could set up a pick-up right now!"

"Let's do it!" I said slamming my hands down on the counter.

"We're in no condition to be dealing with dangerous criminals," Garrus said being the voice of reason.

"You being inebriated will just lower their suspicions even more!" Chellick said enthusiastically.

Garrus might have had a good point though. "What if they recognize Garrus as C-Sec?"

"Oh the middle man they just brought in came from Zakera Ward. He'll have no idea who Garrus is. Although I rather Garrus hang back for support anyway if the deal goes north."

"South."

"I don't care what direction it's done in. Just get the package and get out. All you have to do. You look like you can handle yourself even without Garrus."

"Let's make it happen then!" I said enthusiastically, now fondling my pistol, cutting Garrus off.

"Great! I'll make the call! I'll tell the Krogan you'll meet him in the Lower Markets."

"Krogan?" Garrus asked in alarm.

"Don't worry Chellick. We'll get you those mods before you can say 'Sorry Asari'."

* * *

The club's music was still ringing in my ears as we passed through the Lower Markets. Despite the time being well into the early morning, the area looked as busy as ever.

"Can't believe everyone's awake," I yawned, nearly tripping over myself while doing so. I was so tired. It was a wonder I could even walk.

"Unlike the Presidium, there's no artificial day and night cycle in the Wards-"

_I knew that Garrus._

"- and as a consequence, business here rarely stops. Most of the residents here work and rest whenever needed."

_Interesting._

"You ever think about life as a civilian Garrus? Being a resident here? Owning a small shop, dealing with things as they come, day to day?"

"Uh, no. I don't think I ever have."

He seemed to be seriously to contemplating the question now. Such an introspective guy. I had just asked the question for the hell of it. My mind wasn't really filtering what left my mouth at this point. He started to realize this as he was suddenly besieged by an onslaught of questions.

"No Shield, I'm afraid I _can't_ tell you whether or not Keepers need to sleep."

"No Shield, I don't think the Keepers are 'shifty-looking Reaper abominations'."

"No Shield, I'm not into _other species_."

"No Shield, I don't think my father _would_ have approved. But he wouldn't have escaped."

"No Shield, I_ don't_ want to remember what Chellick talked about back at Flux."

"No Shield, I can't say I _have_ heard of Omega before."

"No Shield, I can safely say my mother is feeling fine.

"Yes Shield, I have a sister. And no, she's _not_ eighteen. And frankly, I don't know why you're asking."

This game went on until Garrus pointed out our contact and quietly slipped back into the throng of shoppers. I was pleasantly surprised because I had forgotten why we had even come down here in the first place. Once I spotted the Krogan myself however, I waved to him and began walking up. He looked fairly grumpy. Probably didn't get enough sleep.

"Hold it!" the Krogan with the dark blue crest barked. "That's close enough 'merc'. You got my payment?"

I held out the credit chit Chellick had given us before we left. One of Jax's lackeys snatched it from my hand.

"Rude."

"Its good boss," the Turian said after scanning it with his omni-tool.

"I understand you have something for me toooo," I said leaning in, several inches from his face.

"You shouldn't drink before a trade off," the Krogan snarled at me while pulling a package from his back. He shoved it into my face. "It's unprofessional."

"Oh...thanks." I stayed where I was. "...See you around?"

"You better hope not," the Krogan muttered back. "Come on boys, we're done here." He gave me one more glare before turning around and sauntering off with his entourage. I ended up copying him.

"Garrus?"

He emerged from the crowded market.

"...now that went better than expected."

We exited the area and took several turns before starting down an empty alleyway.

"Where we headed?" I asked after several minutes of silence.

"This is a shortcut I found back with my time in C-Sec. It leads straight to the elevators-"

And scene.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Spectre Offices**

_Camera Access CP-45CD-8598-4857_

JB: Commander? Commander Shepard? Over here. Heard you were on the Presidium. Hoping to run into you.

JS: I'm busy Salarian. Go bug someone else.

JB: Ah, excuse my poor manners. I forgot to introduce myself. Jondum Bau, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance.

JS: And?

*pause*

JB: I was hoping to congratulate you on your induction. Many of us are looking forward to seeing you bring the rogue Spectre Arterius to justice.

JS: _Really_?

JB: Quite. Although in truth, that's only partly why I wanted to speak with you. I see that you have already gotten Spectre class weapons. I assume from C-Sec. They seem to be the basic model.

JS: Basic? They shoot better than any gun in the N7 series.

JB: So imagine if you had an even better selection. The C-Sec requisitions office has the baseline weaponry for Spectres. Convenient if you need them on the go. They're fairly close to the docks. But if you want quality gear, I _strongly _recommend you visit the Spectre Office in the Citadel Embassy Suites.

JS: Is that all?

JB: Perhaps. *pause* But I assure you it will be...well worth your time.

*Both individuals stand still for several moments*

*Commander Shepard gives him a nod and they walk off in separate directions*

_Camera Access CP-98CX-7258-4920_

*Commander Shepard passes the retinal scan and enters*

*Ten minutes pass*

*Agent Bau passes the retinal scan and enters*

Agent Vasir is still reluctant to give us eyes inside the Spectre sanctum. Requests to allow access to their network have also been ignored. This has cast a shadow on her partnership with the Organization and demands immediate attention. How loyal exactly is she to the Broker? Tag her actions to investigate if the relationship is a facade and simply a means to infiltrate the network. Begin by testing her willingness to comply with the Broker's will. Majoris out.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**And dramatic cutaway. I don't even know what happened this chapter. But I already wrote it, and you already read it. We'll just have to accept it and move on with our lives. And I'm aware there are a lot of the ellipses. But I refuse to stop using them. There is a lot of dramatic pausing in this story. Also, youtube dat Techno Turian. But just so you know, the song selection was purely coincidental. I was only reminded of him once I played it.**

**And forget sending PM's this time around, let me just give out some quickies (and not those kinds you perverts):**

**CommSheps - **Glad you like the humor man! Hopefully keeps things interesting in between the story's lulls. And it has been awhile since we've had another POV besides Shield. The reason? Stay tuned to find out-I forgot. I forgot to give her one. Oh well. When will the next be? Who knows.

**DKM - **And I'm making no promises man. At the rate this story's going guys it might devolve into a parody. God I hope not...or maybe I do. WHO KNOWS-

**TMNT - **But Yeah, Shield's head is pretty much out of the game. Obviously, mistakes were made this night. Luckily, Shepard didn't bring it up. Or will sHE?! Eh. Who knows~

**Lanilen - **Although you can see Shepard's reaction to the song on her face. Silly shield. It's going to be one awkward conversation if it ever comes around. And I totally forgive you man. I'm just glad you got to come across the song! Hope you enjoyed your first time. Your first time is always the best. And is your second, third, tenth, four thousandth-Will I ever truly tire of listening to the song? Who knowsssssss-

**In the Next Chapter: Suggestions would be appreciated. **

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	18. Back under the Bulkhead

Shepard stood silently in the airlock with Kaidan and Ashley. They were absolutely still, while the faint light of the ship's decontamination protocol washed over them. After standing still for what seemed like an eternity, the ship's VI finally registered their arrival.

"Logged. The Commanding Officer is aboard. XO Pressly stands relieved."

She addressed Joker at the ship's helm first. He told her the Normandy and its crew were prepared to set anchors aweigh. They were simply waiting for her mark. She then acknowledged him and backtracked down the bridge, continuing her preparations for departure. Walking by Pressly, he remarked in passing that several routes were already laid out for whatever course the Commander picked. She continued to climb atop her command deck overseeing the CIC, acknowledging him as well. Once at the top, she activated the ship's star map and had it pinpoint the system of Grissom. Then came the call.

"Come upstairs for dinner honey!"

I paused the game and turned my attention away from the TV.

"What?"

The voice came from the stairs again.

"We're going to start without you!"

I groaned and got up from the couch, not failing to stretch my arms as I did. As hard as it was to be peeled away from the game, I was grateful for the announcement, as I was feeling pret-ty hungry. I shuffled to the stairs and began my trek up. My legs must have fallen asleep with how long I had been playing, because every step I took felt like I had cement shoes on. Honest to god it felt like I was climbing Mount Everest.

_I'm so out of shape._

Once I finally cleared the last step, I turned towards our living/dining room. Our Christmas tree, covered in all kinds of ornaments and lights occupied the room's crux, with a flat screen TV simulating a roasting fire adjacent to it. Across from the TV in the living area, I found our dinner nook to have a number of guests occupying it. My brother. My sister. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and family friends. There seemed to be too many people for the counter to support. My eyes were then quickly drawn to the large feast in front of them, where there was enough food to feed a third world country. Legs of honeyed ham, an entire fried turkey, bowls of gravy and stuffing, buttered mashed potatoes, an assortment of roasted vegetables, cranberry sauce, various breads and pudding. My mom stood in front of the stove holding a pot roast waiting for me to finish staring at the food.

"Could you be a dear and go grab your father? He's outside on the porch."

"On the porch?"

I looked not to the table with our guests but to the patio doors behind them. I then nodded to her in affirmation and started trudging toward it. The conversation of the table roared to life as I passed it. All kinds of talk radiated from it, from the totally mundane to the utterly scandalous. I slid the door open and entered the patio, closing it quickly behind me to shut out the noise. I wasn't really in the mood to hear about my cousin's affair with a married olympic swimmer or that my uncle wanted to quit his job to chase his dream in animal husbandry. With a sigh, I turned around from the door, only to find that the lights were off, and the porch pitch black. The starless midnight sky tonight only added to my blindness. I immediately squinted my eyes, searching for a figure that could be hiding in this black ink. After several seconds, my vision somewhat adjusted, and I caught his outline in a corner of the deck. He had his back turned, smoke rising above his head.

_He's smoking?! He quit years ago! Or he said he did. That lying bastahd._

"Dad? What the hell are you doing out here?"

The man turned around, exhaling another cloud of smoke as he did. But despite how dark it was outside, and the amount of smoke obscuring his face, I could immediately tell it wasn't my father. And this was because I could see one distinct thing. Those eyes. His incredibly inhuman eyes. Cobalt. Cybernetic. Alien.

Then, out of my peripheries, I noticed movement. I turned left to face my attacker, swinging my right arm towards them in the process. My omni-blade resounded with a clang against the katana swinging downward, knocking it back. But the assailant immediately used the momentum from being knocked off balance to spin backwards, sending a strong kick to my midriff. It knocked the air out of my lungs and my feet off the ground.

Sailing through the air, I felt my back hit the railing of the porch. I subsequently flipped over it in one fluid motion and my eyes bulged as I realized I was beginning to fall. Looking back up to where I had just been, I could only see the cold, cobalt eyes of something inhuman staring back at me as I continued falling further and further.

And the eyes and the porch I had just been on continued to become further and further. I fell for what seemed like ages. The suspense was almost tortuous. I couldn't bare the suspense any longer. So I twisted my body around to face the ground, bringing my arms to my face, shutting my eyes, expecting impact at any moment. But I just kept falling. More falling. Gathering my courage and peeking an eye open in conjunction, I was surprised to find no grass below me. In fact, there was nothing below me at all. Just darkness. Cold nothingness. A vast void. I was aghast.

_This-wait. Is this-_

I was blasted with a deafening scream.

I shut my eyes when the sound assaulted my ears, the unpleasant cacophony that came after it sounding like nails being dragged along a chalkboard. Immediately after I shut them, textures, shapes, images, pictures, scenes, worlds flitted by one after another. The incoherent chattering/screams of long forgotten races accompanied them. The chaotic nature of the message pervaded my brain, snaked through my every thought. The sounds and images slithering through my head were too much, and I screamed in horror only to find no sound leave my mouth.

A yellow star, a blood red backdrop, a black world. Then...nothing.

My eyes shot open with the message's end.

_A nightmare._

I stared at the bright white ceiling above me.

_Just another one of those nightmares._

I continued staring for several more minutes before I asked myself the most important question.

_Where am I?_

I slowly turned my head to the right. Doctor Chakwas was at her desk, typing away on the computer in front of her. I then turned my head left. The rest of the beds in the medbay were empty. I then discretely turned myself over under the covers, burying my face in my pillow so I no longer had to look at the fiction around me. There was only one thing I wanted to think about at this particular moment.

_Why was I falling? _

_...I was falling because Kai Leng kicked me. Off a porch. The Illusive man was there too. Why were they there? Was that ominous foreshadowing? Am I prescient now? Am I scared because I just ratted them out?_

Breathing shallowly into the fabric of my pillow, I attempted to reconstruct what else had happened in my sleep.

_I...my mom. My family. It was dinner. Everyone was there for Christmas dinner. Oh my god...it's Christmas._

My breathing became heavier. It had been twelve days since I woke up on Eden Prime. I knew that because I counted every single one that passed. And last time this happened...I could only arrive at one conclusion.

_These 'dreams' and time must be parallel. The first time I had one of these was the morning we left the Citadel. Three days after the Geth attack. Three days from when I was last in my room at school. Now twelve days later and, boom, another nightmare. Exam day was the thirteenth. Twelve days later would be Christmas Day exactly._

I hoped it was just a coincidence. Some freakish dream that had no pertaining to what was going on. No pertaining to what my senses perceived around me. Or maybe the nightmare was just my subconscious telling me what I could currently be missing.

_That bastard._

Or maybe...just maybe...what I saw really _was_ what I was missing. Christmas time back home. Winter break, opening presents, seeing my family. Missing everything while I was stuck here. Life was just going on as normal back home. Without me.

_But I was there. In the dream...but was I really? Did I just insert myself there in my mind? Or was there a clone of me just wandering around? ...Could I be the clone? Or could there be no version of me there at all? If there wasn't, were they worrying? Did they care if I was missing at all? Were they even aware if I ever existed?_

I exhaled heavily into the fabric of the pillow.

_Of course they would._

But something started to well inside my chest.

_Am I insane? What the hell am I even talking about. It doesn't even matter if they did or not. Because I'm here. I'm stuck HERE...nothing back home matters when I'm currently stuck HERE, right now...and how did I end up here again?_

I racked my brains for literally whatever could have happened the night before I awoke. I was just studying. Sitting in my room flipping through a text book. No parties. No hallucinogens. No radioactive or sci-fiesque experiments I just happened to be in the vicinity of. No gods or omniscient beings throwing me through the annals of time.

_Wait. No. I've definitely tripped before. Man that shit was cray...but that was months ago. There's no way in hell drugs could have done something like this. Have this strong an effect on my senses. And it was nothing like what's happening now...so. What the hell is wrong with me? Two weeks. Two Freakin weeks I've been stuck. This isn't a nifty little adventure anymore. Ha! What the hell? It never was!_

Something started to well in my chest.

_...God...why can't this just end already? ... Because I can't do this anymore-I can't DO THIS. JESUS CHRIST I'M FUCKING INSANE. I see ugly ass ALIENS everywhere I go. I've even been shot. And it actually fuckin hurt. Like a lot. That couldn't have been fake. And even if all this was...I'm tired of it. I definitely can't put up with Shepard's annoying SHIT anymore._

My eyes started to get watery.

_I'm insane. I think I'm in a video game. Mom. Dad. My brother. My sister. My do- Oh my god. I don't even remember their names_.

I let out a pitiful laugh that became muffled in my pillow.

_I don't even remember the names of my own family. My OWN name. _

The cushion I was buried in started to become damp.

_I'm never going to see them again. Am I? Never going to know what happens for the rest of my life. What happens in theirs. My friends, my future, my-I don't want this. I didn't ASK for this...did I? You always like to pretend what would happen if you suddenly got thrown into a work of fiction. How cool it would be to interact with the characters and become a trusted member of the group. But it's nothing like you imagined at all is it? __I can't stay here. There has to be a way out. There-_

The waterworks started to slow.

_Ha. Suicide? What. Use a grenade? A shot to the head? What the fuck brain. I'm not a bitch._

Then I put more thought into it. More thought rather into what I was currently doing.

_And wow. This is what it's come to. Here I am. Hiding under my covers. Crying into a pillow. Like I'm a teenage girl. That's exactly what I'm doing right now...what the fuck. Man up. Get over yourself you little bitch. _

I blinked away the last tear.

_We already went over this whole thing asshole. Stop Saren. Stop Sovereign. Then you get to go home. THAT was the deal._

I was right. I shifted myself onto my back again and stared at the ceiling.

_Make the best of what you got right now. I mean...you're on a fucking SPACE SHIP. You got nothing to complain about. And to be frank, you should be currently asking not why you're here but why you're HERE. In this bed._

That thought got me back on track.

_Why the hell am I in the Normandy? In the med bay?...so before the nightmare was that talent window and before that was...oh dude. I passed out didn't I-_

"I see you've come to your senses."

I jerked my head toward the doctor.

"Oh...yeah."

"We were worried about you. You've taken quite a few blows to the head since you've come aboard."

"Blow to the head?" I blurted unintentionally.

"Quite so. Apparently someone tried to bludgeon you. And succeeded. I'm afraid I don't know the exact details. You would have to ask Mr. Vakarian, he's the one who brought you to medical attention."

I sat up in my bed and did a double take of my surroundings. We were definitely in the Normandy. Definitely not some hospital. Doctor Chakwas saw my obvious confusion and continued to elaborate.

"He brought you to an infirmary located in the Headquarters of Citadel Security. You were left there to recuperate from your injury. After you failed to wake up the next day, it was decided to transfer you aboard the Normandy as we were scheduled to depart the following morning."

_A whole day?! What the hell? How-Wait. If I was out cold and already cared for...she could have just left me in C-Sec. Why did Shepard bring me along? Did someone make a case for me? Convince her they needed me? There's no way she would ha-_

"Oh, speaking of whom, there goes Mr. Vakarian now. Since it seems your suffering mild amnesia, you can ask him more about the incident once you're back on your feet."

"Oh don't worry about it Doc, I'm feeling fine." I pulled off my covers and sat upright in the bed. "Thanks for-"

"Don't you dare!" We locked eyes. The contempt she had on her face. How her eyes pierced my soul. I felt myself already shrinking back into bed before she opened her mouth to speak again. "I'm not letting you run off again like you did last time! You were seriously injured and could have hemorrhaged leaving my care like you did. I'm fairly surprised you're still functioning as you are. Although I wouldn't be surprised if permanent damage was done to your memory or cognition with how much blunt trauma your head has endured. So you'll remain in this room until I deem you fit enough to leave it, am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am," I replied meekly, avoiding her gaze. I quietly laid back down on the cot and slid the covers back over me.

* * *

She read over the data pad the requisitions officer had just handed her. The order for new maintenance equipment submitted by the Gunnery Chief Williams had been approved. It was a request she had seen filled out personally in fact. With the amount of weaponry they had already collected over the course of their mission so far, they would certainly need them. She moved her eyes further down the list.

The surplus of rations and dextro-protein food appeared to have been delivered on schedule as well. Which was fortunate as Vakarian and Tali had already gone through the emergency rations kept for the dextro's they might find adrift in space. Even without including their food in the ledger though, she still would have balked at the amount they now carried. That is, if she wasn't already aware of how much food that Krogan Wrex went through in one day alone.

She continued to scroll down the list.

"-and Tali has been extremely helpful down in engineering. The insights she can already make on the ship's systems are simply astounding. I swear, she might already know more about the Tantalus drive core than the rest of my team."

She looked up from the data pad in her hand to Lieutenant Adams. He was sitting next to Pressly, who seemed extremely apathetic about what their chief engineer had to say. She couldn't help but share the sentiment. The meeting had droned on for much longer than she would have liked. The Normandy had already departed the Citadel over an hour ago and still needed a plot for their first course of action. Yet here they all were, still in the conference room, still discussing trivial affairs that she didn't need to know about. Kaidan seemed to sense her frustration.

"So everything's good in engineering?"

"Aside from a small maintenance issue that's currently being resolved, the Normandy's engineering department has nothing else to report."

"Great," she cut in. "Officer Fantum, do you have the expense report for this list? Has everything on it been accounted for?"

"Yes ma'am. Although the Alliance didn't get the medigel Doctor Chakwas ordered for our dextro-friendly crew members in time, I was able to acquire some through my other channels out of own pocket."

"Good work. I'll be sure they reimburse you. Is that it?"

The four men in the room seemed to nod their heads in agreement.

"Alright. Dismissed."

She motioned for Kaidan to stay as the rest left the room. He made a curious look as to why before walking back towards her.

"Kaidan. You said you...saw him one last time before we left...How was he?"

"Oh. Uh, last I saw him, he seemed to be doing okay. Not well enough to walk around or anything like that but he was conscious. Apparently Emerson had even been to see him just an hour before me. And actually, get this. You know how Fredericks was always bragging about seeing the Consort? Apparently he never actually had. He had only lined up a visit from one of her 'acolytes'. Had it scheduled during his next visit upon the Citadel. But because of his...condition, he ended up missing it. Or he would have if Emerson hadn't told the Consort's office about what had happened to him. They're apparently going to visit the hospital tomorrow and do something really special for him. You should've seen Frederick's face as he told me."

"Glad to hear he's doing better."

Kaidan paused for a moment and slightly frowned. "You should have visited him before we left Commander. It would have meant a lot to him."

"Noted. Thank you for giving me an update on his status. You're dismissed Lieutenant."

She knew he wanted to push the topic but he pursed his lips instead and gave a half-hearted salute. She followed him out moments later. She didn't want to discuss the marine. She almost didn't ask about him. His brush with death was still too recent.

"Hey Commander, we have a call from Alliance command coming in. Should I put them on hold?"

"I'll be right there," she replied over her earpiece.

_We're properly equipped. Everyone's rested...Saren. We're coming for you, you son of a bitch._

* * *

"Commander, Ms. Al-Jilani's story on you just aired. She shouldn't have ambushed you like that, but you handled yourself well. She came across as a raving idiot."

"Thank you Admiral."

"She did accuse you of publicly assaulting her. While there were no witnesses, apparently she got hold of footage from a camera in C-Sec. However, it's quality was grainy at best. Couldn't make out much of it."

"Like you said sir, she was a raving idiot."

"Alright Commander. Just be sure to take further care when dealing with these situations in the future."

There wouldn't _be_ any situations in the future with the clear message she sent to the reporter.

"Don't have to tell me twice...sir."

"As for the real reason I'm calling. Commander, your information on Geth in the Armstrong Cluster was accurate. Half a marine division was lost in the process but we were able to clear out the outposts they had in the region. It's alarming they had any at all, let alone four."

"I'm glad to hear the Fifth Fleet was successful in their attack sir. If the Geth had even one of those bases still standing, I can't imagine the havoc they would have dealt."

"That's just it Commander. They weren't the only ones in the region. Once our teams accomplished their objectives, we found that the outposts seemed a little small for the scale of attack the Geth were planning. We looked into it and apparently they still retain their main base of operations in the region. Upon further digging, our scouts found several Geth cruisers patrolling the space of Grissom. We speculate their main base of operations is located in that system."

"And what would you have us do sir?"

_Why did he call? The Fifth Fleet could easily handle a handful of ships._

"Normally I would send the fleet in to mop up the remaining Geth but we're afraid there's a larger Geth fleet waiting outside the system. If we attack, we might find ourselves fighting an uphill battle. That's why I've come to you Commander. With the Normandy, you can sneak by the Geth's patrols undetected, hit their main base of operations, and get out before the Geth are any wiser."

"We'll set course for Grissom immediately sir."

"Glad to hear it Shepard. Good luck. Fifth Fleet out."

* * *

**One Relay Jump later...**

The Geth hit the floor one after another. Rockets flew over their heads. Shards of shrapnel shot pass their mid-riffs. Shepard released another burst of biotic energy from her hand. It threw the robot in front of her several feet in the opposite direction. Following it up, she vaulted over the crate brandishing her shotgun and let a volley loose at it. White liquid sprayed from where the bullets made contact. She crouched where she was and spun around. She no longer heard enemy fire, but one can never be too sure. She activated her omni-tool and waved it in a circular motion. It detected no other hard suits in the area besides her team. And more importantly for that matter, no other Geth.

"Clear!"

She looked toward her squad who were all emerging from cover, aside from Wrex who had no need for it.

"Wrex! I want you to sweep the top floor for any remaining Geth. Williams, cover his ass! Kaidan you're with me. I have a feeling there's more behind this door over here." She motioned to the locked doorway in the far corner of the room. "Tali, get it open."

"Right away Commander!" the Quarian piped up.

She figured the Geth must have killed the original inhabitants of the building as it was the standard design of practically every structure found in the Traverse, aside from the various Geth equipment that had been moved in. The first giveaway was that the entry room was pressurized for those entering from a vacuum. Synthetics like the Geth wouldn't need to bother with that. They're had been a single Geth there however that had been in for an unpleasant surprise.

Then they entered the base's main chamber, reinforcing that it was another standard Traverse structure. It's main room was supported by several columns, with a series of crates scattered throughout it, just like the standard model. The only difference being the amount of Geth fabrications inside it. But like every other standard para-military compound in the region, there was still the staircase in the corner that led to the balcony overseeing the entire room. Usually used by crime lords to oversee their operation and as a convenient vantage point in the event of an attack.

"Got it!"

She had her gun raised as soon as she heard the door let out a hiss. Luckily, they found nothing on the other side. The absence of gunfire from up top meant that Wrex and Ashley hadn't run into anything either. Shepard holstered her gun and motioned for Tali to access the Geth terminal at the far side of the small room.

_Lucky us._

She looted the other containers in the room with Kaidan as Tali accessed whatever information might be on it. Whatever she found could be the next big step in locating the rogue Spectre and his Geth allies.

_One step closer to finding the Conduit._

She glanced back over to the Quarian when she heard her gasp. Walking toward the console and Tali, she saw another Quarian on the screen. Singing. A crowd sat before her, soaking in her mournful melody.

"Is this really the best time to be watching an opera vid Tali?" Kaidan asked over her shoulder.

"What?" she said in shock. "No! It just came on!"

"Really." Shepard replied unconvinced.

"I...yes! I was bypassing firewalls when this just appeared on the screen! According to the registered comm buoys this console's using, it's broadcasting to several places beyond the Perseus Veil...to the Geth."

The vid flickered off just seconds after she said this and the console's screen once again displayed gibberish.

"...Finish up here."

"...alright Shepard."

"Commander, we're all cleared."

She brought her hand to her helmet's radio. "Alright you two, meet us back down on the first floor."

"Roger that."

A single minute passed before Tali chirped up again.

"I got something! Some encrypted data files. It'll take some time but I think I can crack them if I just have a few more minutes!"

"Don't have the time. Download them and get ready to go." She turned around to Ashley and Wrex who had just rejoined the group. "We're done here, move out." She raised a connection to the Normandy next. "Joker, get ready to pick us up at these coordinates. We're ready for exfil."

"...Glad to hear it Commander. Was just about to call you actually. The Geth in the area don't seem too fond of you killing their buddies. A couple cruiser sized vessels are headed our way."

"Get here on the double!"

The ascent from the moon's surface was largely uneventful despite their small window of time. After sitting idly in the Mako for several minutes, Joker brought the ship down and she gunned the Mako into the ship's garage. Joker exited the moon's orbit just seconds later. As they exited the vehicle, it was the Quarian who had been tinkering on her omni-tool since they had climbed into the vehicle that spoke up.

"Shepard! I need to talk to you."

The rest of her squad went on with their business.

"Did you find something?"

"I was able to access some of the data we found on that Geth control node. And I wanted to ask you if I could get a copy of it."

"Tell me what you found first."

"A majority of the files are still encrypted, but from what I've gathered, this data could give us new insight into how the Geth have evolved! Information on how they've changed over the past centuries!"

"And I'm guessing you want to give this information to your people."

"Yes! These files have information that could be vital in our efforts in understanding the Geth. It could be instrumental in retaking our home world!"

"So if I were to give you this data, your pilgrimage would end wouldn't it? You'd return to the Quarian flotilla?"

"Not right away! I'll stay with you for as long as it takes to stop Saren. But my people need this!"

"This is an Alliance outfit. I would have to run it past Alliance high command first."

"Oh...alright. But please, do you think you can convince them to allow me a copy?"

"We'll see Tali." And with that, she turned and walked away toward the garage elevator.

* * *

"We're increasing patrols in the Armstrong cluster to make sure they don't establish another foothold in the region. Nice job Shepard. You saved a lot of lives on this mission."

"Thank you Admiral."

"And as for the information you recovered. Our analysts are already piecing through the information as we speak. They strongly believe it will help our efforts in combating the Geth."

"Permission to speak Admiral."

"Granted, Commander."

She bit her tongue. Shepard had second thoughts about requesting permission.

_Giving away vital intel to a foreign government. Because an alien asked. What the hell am I-_

"Shepard? You can speak freely with me."

She let out a sigh.

"The Quarian crew member on my ship that recovered the information wishes to get a copy of the data. She wants to bring it back to the Quarian fleet for similar reasons."

"If you have no qualms about this Commander, then I defer to your judgment. If she was the one to recover the data in the first place, I see no problem with her keeping a copy."

"...Alright sir."

"Again, good work Commander. Hackett out."

* * *

The Quarian let out a squeal and hugged her when she handed over the data disk. And Shepard grimaced as she did. After what seemed like an eternity, the Quarian let go.

"Shepard...I can't express to you how grateful I am for this."

"I think you've done a pretty good job," Shepard said while brushing off her shirt.

"With this information, who knows what we'll find in regards to the Geth!"

"So...I assume you'll be leaving next time we dock?"

"For my people, the Pilgrimage is what proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. And for mine, I happened to come across a group attempting to stop the Geth from finding a Prothean weapon of mass destruction. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this now?"

"...right," Shepard replied.

"I'll be with you until the end Commander!"

"...until the end," Shepard muttered back as she began to walk away.

* * *

"Is there a problem Doc?" I asked as the doors to the medbay suddenly slid open again. Chakwas hadn't even been gone a minute before-

"No, just me Shield. Doctor Chakwas said you wanted a word."

I propped myself up from where I was and turned to face him. "Yeah, glad you could stop by. Uh...I guess I should just get straight to the point then? Last thing I remember doing was leaving Flux with you before everything becomes a blur. She said I was...attacked. So I guess my question is...what happened?"

"Glad your mind's still relatively intact. I don't know much about Human physiology but with the amount of punishment your head's taken since we've been on this mission, I'm sure even a Krogan would be feeling a little woozy by now."

"Yeah, that's what they keep telling me..."

The Turian dragged over a stool and took a seat besides my bed. "Two Humans tried to jump us in an alleyway. Snuck up quietly, almost didn't hear them. You were knocked out before I was able to stop them. I rendered my assailant unconscious shortly after, but that just caused the other to pull a gun. I had to shoot him before he could do the same."

"Damn. Scary stuff...I guess better them than us though, huh? In any case, thanks for not letting them mug me...not that they would've gotten much."

_I have, what, 350 credits to my name after our last few missions? Probably less after Flux-_

"They weren't muggers. Not that I knew at the time. I brought you and the remaining perp to C-Sec. You were put in the clinic and I threw our mugger into a cell. Went to report the incident to Chellick. That's when things got fishy. Before I knew it, someone had paid bail and got him out. I literally turned my back for one moment and he was gone." He spread all three of his talons apart as he said it.

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"What you're doing with your fingers there."

"Oh this?" He repeated the action with his hand again. "It's used as an expression for when someone quickly leaves your company."

"Interesting," I genuinely replied. Then I steered us back on topic. "Back to the story though...what's fishy about that though? Who paid bail?"

"We don't know. And that's just it Shield. We don't have 'bail' at C-Sec. We don't just drop charges with credits. As much as I hate them, there's procedures to go by. But he was let out by someone before an incident report was even filed. And when we checked who signed his release, there wasn't even a log for it."

"Woah. So your saying he had connections in C-Sec? That someone just let him walk out? Does that mean you guys have a mole?"

"Apparently. And while that warrants further investigation, it gets worse. The very next day, they found him dead in a dumpster, behind some restaurant in the Wards."

"Oh shit."

"Exactly. So I just wanted to ask Shield...what exactly did you do before you came aboard the Normandy? You said that you worked for the Broker...did you piss off any criminal syndicates before you came here? I don't exactly know much about your past. I don't think any of us do. But if you were in any sort of trouble before we all crossed paths...I might be able to help you if you told me."

My face hardened. "...did Shepard put you up to this?"

"No. Although I mentioned this to her, I'm just here asking for myself. I've seen this happen before Shield. Someone borrows a little too much money and can't pay it off. Or they dabble in affairs most would want to keep private. So they send in their lackeys to send a message. They make a mistake, cops get involved, and they wash their hands of the whole business. Cut ties. Permanently."

"Garrus, I don't owe anyone money."

_...Not that I know of..._

"-And I can't recall stepping on anyone's toes recently-"

_...actually-_

"Then is there anything else you can think of? Those men weren't just ordinary thieves. They were obviously acting on the orders of someone big...big enough to buy off rats in C-Sec. Someone who might have a problem with your work with the Broker? ...maybe even the Broker himself?" He muttered the last word like it was fact.

I just replied that, "...I honestly have no idea who could have sent them."

But now that I thought about it...I did. Humans working for what could be a conspiracy that spanned even C-Sec? That stank of one organization in particular. One that I had just pissed off. I forgot the Turian was a trained investigator though. Just by looking at me, he could tell that I was withholding something. I was sure of it. And he didn't fail to make it clear that he did.

"Look. I understand if you don't want us to get involved in your personal affairs. But if this could affect our mission then-"

"I'll tell Shepard about it when I get out of here alright?" He looked up with my interruption. And he looked annoyed. Probably with how I was cutting him out of the 'investigation'. "Or hell, she can come in here to ask me about it herself. But all I know for sure Garrus is that it won't affect our mission. I promise...alright?"

_...Could I really make that promise though?_

Garrus got up from where he was sitting. "I'll tell her that." Then he turned around one last time before exiting the med bay. "But Shield. If we're going to be a team, we're going to have to trust one other. We can't afford to keep secrets to ourselves. The mission's too important for that."

"Gotcha," I muttered laying back down in bed. I heard the med bay doors slide close behind him. I stared at the sterile white ceiling of the room for several minutes before closing my eyes. I had been laying in bed for so long that I had been itching to just get up and run about the ship. But at the moment, I felt tired. Everything in my body felt heavy. Everything was just getting too heavy.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**C-Sec Investigations Office**

Camera Access BQ-15CS-7158-0185

DC: Ugh, my head.

*Door slides open. Turian enters*

DC: Garrus? I thought you resigned.

GV: I did. And nice to see you too Chellick.

*Garrus tosses object onto his desk. Chellick picks it up.*

DC: What's this?

GV: Sorry, meant to give it to you last night. It's the package you wanted from the Krogan.

DC: Krogan? What are you talking about Garrus?

GV: ...you don't remember? Talking about it at Flux? Setting up the hand off?

DC: Flux?...Oh spirits. I don't remember anything from that night. Don't tell me it was Jax-

GV: I believe it was.

DC: Dammit. I wasn't talking loud enough for everyone to hear was I?

GV: Oh no. I don't think you would have even brought it up if it wasn't for my associate.

DC: Oh...right. I think I remember now. The Human you brought in.

GV: Yes, who I might add, was attacked afterwards by your thug.

*Chellick is unraveling the package while Garrus continues speaking.*

DC: Spirits...you're telling me I asked you to pick up the weapon mods?

GV: They're what you wanted weren't they?

DC: Yes they are. But you're telling me I asked you to do this? Last night?

GV: That's correct.

*Detective Chellick groans*

DC: And you're telling me the deal went wrong? That you scared off my only lead-

GV: Maybe. The Humans who attacked us shortly after didn't seem like regular thieves. Weren't deterred by our firearms.

DC: Humans? That doesn't sound like Jax. Only hires Turians. Heard him say that they're more 'professional.'

GV: Well then. That makes things a little more interesting.

DC: But aside from your muggers in the alley, the deal went fine?

GV: Correct. Exchanged the credits for the mods and walked away, no questions asked.

DC: Great.

*Detective Chellick hangs his head for a moment*

DC:...Did I do anything else stupid last night?

GV: Oh, just the usual.

*Detective sighs.*

DC: Well I suppose I should thank you then.

GV: You should thank the Human in the infirmary. He's the one who made the whole thing happen.

DC: Wonderful. I guess I'll have to once he's conscious.

GV: And before I forget, now that you have those mods, you no longer need to put that poor girl in danger.

DC: Girl? Who do you mean?

GV: Uh, you know...oh damn...what was her name...

DC: Are you talking about Jenna?

GV: That's the one.

DC: I'll concede to that. I'll tell her she's done her job.

GV: Appreciate it Chellick. Catch you around.

DC: Don't be a stranger Vakarian.

*Video ends.*

**Found nothing that implicates us. Continue monitoring both individuals for further developments.**

**(Look what I just pulled from one of their servers Gellix. Thought you might be interested.)**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So this chapter was kind of difficult to write. Kind of at a weird transition in the story. Oh right! Before I forget, its the story's Two Month Anniversary! We finally finished Act 1: Throwdown on Therum, and now we move onward, to Act 2: Traversing the Traverse! And although my OCD wish that I got the 20th Chapter and broke 100k for this occasion, I'm glad I even got this far. Thanks for the support for all of you who've been reading and I hope this story continues to entertain. ****Back to the chapter, it's a little disjointed I know, wished I had a little more time to sort it out. Had some ambiguous time lapses between transitions but I didn't want to miss the story's birthday. So here we are. In any case, next week should fare better.**

**In the Next Chapter: Time is ticking. A Fight against fate. Who'll end up on top?**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	19. Bring down the Bastards

**2170 CE**

She rubbed the rough fabric back and forth between her fingers. The leather felt coarse, rough, irritating. It was like sand paper. She then shuddered at the thought of someone actually wearing it, and the chafing that it'd inflict. Letting the overalls swing back into the rack, she moved on to the tube top next to it. Regardless of what the shirt was made of, it wasn't even near what she had in mind. She knew that old man Lauren only sold the drab, everyday patchwork that everyone wore on the colony in his store. But he owned the only one that sold actual clothing in the neighborhood. Whatever she hoped to find had to be here. And after minutes of sifting through rack after rack of clothes, what little hope she had already begun to falter. All she wanted was a dress. One for the dance. A simple dress. One that fell to her feet and was flowery and elegant and...

"Hey! Look what I found!"

She turned to Karen. At first, she felt a wave of envy wash over her as her eyes were drawn to the hem of the mauve dress hanging at her feet.

_I can't believe..._

But as her eyes moved up, she suddenly found her jealousy disappear.

_...how ugly that is._

The dress was a two-piece. A horrid one. At where her waist was, the purple skirt abruptly ended, exposing the would-be wearer's entire midriff save for two straps extending from its edge. The two straps connected the unfinished dress to an orange sleeveless, crop top. The whole thing was as tasteless as the rest of the garbage in the store.

"...wow."

"I know right! I think Jimmy's going to love it!"

_Jimmy would love anything on you. You have him wrapped around your finger._

"Uh, I'm sure he would but...do you think your parents will really be okay with it?"

"Psh, I don't care about them. I like it, so I'm buying it!" After pursing her lips sassily, Karen peered over her shoulder, examining the clothing behind her. "Find anything over here?"

She sighed. "No."

"Well that sucks. I would suggest this," she pointed to the dress hanging in front of her. "But I'm pretty sure this is the only one Ralph has."

_Thank the maker. Although to be fair, that was still one too many._

"Oh...darn. Rats. I'm just gonna keep looking."

"Hey, I'm going to run this through real quick, but after I'm done, I'll be right back to help you find something!"

She really wish Karen wouldn't sometimes. She really did have the worst tastes. "Kay."

As Karen ran off, she decided to continue down the aisle, onward to the next rack of clothing. The clothes hanging from it were unfortunately more drab than the last. Back across the shop, old man Lauren sat behind his counter, registering Karen's purchase. The senior citizen was wrinkled and leathery, just like the clothes in his store. She thought most people who came to the store were sadists, as the old man was an absolute terror to talk with. And even though his entire store was rendered obsolete with the existence of the extranet and anything you could want being online, people still flocked to it. Her parents told her it was because they wanted to support the local business. But she was pretty sure it had more to do with the convenience of it being so close to everyone's homes. That was the reason why Karen and her were there now anyway. Asides from it's extremely cheap prices.

She stared at the rags hanging in front of her. And then she frowned.

All she wanted was a nice dress for formal. The big dance that happened at the end of the academic year. It would be her first one as an upper classman. Kevin and Jonesy had both already asked to go with her. She had to say, she felt guilty with how she was here shopping for a dress when she still hadn't made up her mind with which boy she was going to go with. Neither were Eluam but it's not like _he_ could go with her.

_I mean Kevin's kind of cute..._

And he had _really_ good jokes.

_but Jonesy-_

"So found something yet?"

She spun around at the sound of her voice.

"Oh...no. Nothing yet."

"Look, I honestly think I might have grabbed the last decent thing here. You know, every time I come over, I always see your mom wearing something fantastic! I'm sure she'll let you borrow something for Formal!"

"I already did. She doesn't have anything that fits..."

"Oh, I guess you haven't really grown in as much as her yet huh?"

"Hey-"

"Well that sucks. Bummer...Oh! You know what? I just got the latest issue of Elysium Elegance! We can look through it for dresses and have one delivered instead!"

She gawked at her, trying to tell if Karen was being serious. "I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not."

"Why would that be a joke? The outfits in it are Fab-Buloussss!"

"You know we can't afford things like that!"

Her parents barely gave her a pittance. She had to skip social outings sometimes because her parents' were so cheap.

"Hey, we'll find something! I just know it! Come on!"

Karen dragged her by the arm out of the store with her right hand, while her left carried the bag that contained the atrocious dress she had just bought. It really was hideous. If Karen actually wore that to the dance, she might have to-

As soon as they had exited the store, she suddenly found rain drops falling on her head.

"AH! My hair!"

Squealing, Karen immediately let go of her and took off. She watched Karen sprint uncharacteristically fast down the dirt road, and take a turn at the shack cornering Freyer lane. In all honesty, she didn't mind the rain nearly as much. She decided to just calmly trail behind her friend and enjoy the shower. She let the rain soak her head to toe, the water streaming down her face. She stuck her tongue out.

* * *

**2183 CE**

The iron taste of it on her lips made her spit. Shepard brought one of her arms back from where they had been outstretched and wiped some of the blood covering her face. The shimmering aura of violet enveloping her began to dissipate. Not two seconds after she had killed the Batarian calling itself Charn had the rest of the squad followed her lead. She hadn't needed to lift a finger. A minute later and the four Batarians were already laying dead before her.

The remains of Charn however were much, much messier than the other three. Instead of getting a quick shot to the head, the Batarian that had tried negotiating with them met a much more fitting end. His body laid roughly in two, a pool of blood congregating under it, possessing a hue much darker than that of a Humans'. Though the coloring might have just been due to the dark lighting of the room.

Unlucky for him that he hadn't taken the precaution of bringing a kinetic barrier.

HRK.

The noise sounded like it had come from Shield. So she promptly ignored it. She instead focused on Charn's remains as something among it was catching her eye. Something the head engineer had told them about. She quickly bent over to pick it off the corpse's belt. And after wiping the object clean against one of her grenade packs, getting rid of the blood, she examined it again to confirm what it was.

_A key card. _

There was still one facility left on the asteroid that they hadn't checked yet, according to the map taken from the transmitter tower. And it would most likely be where the remaining engineers and four-eyed freaks were. This very key card was most likely how the Batarians had access to every structure on the asteroid, and now, it would do the same for them. Clipping the card to her waist, she scanned the room one more time.

"Seems like that was it. Wrex, I want you to take point. Check for any more of these bastards in the room. The rest of you, check your guns and displays. We'll move out after Wrex gives us the go ahead. We still have one more building full of four eyes to deal with."

"What the FUCK was that?"

She stopped what she was doing and slowly turned around to face him. "Excuse me."

"Shepard! You just fucking ripped that guy in half! Wha-What the fuck?!"

"And?"

"And you don't see a problem with how you just did that!? Or you know, the fact that he just wanted to talk?!"

She let out a fake chuckle in response to his idiotic words. "_Just_ _wanted to talk_?"

"Yeah! He was facing us _unarmed_ Shepard! He didn't shoot us on sight! He obviously just wanted to talk! There was no need to do...that!" he responded pointing at the Batarian behind her.

"No need?" Shepard's face grew dark. "NO NEED?! The BATARIANS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO KILL MILLIONS! They don't get to beg for mercy now that someone's here who can actually fight back!"

Vakarian shifted uncomfortably behind the agent.

"How can you not be disgusted by what you just did!?" His visor was too dark to see his features...but she assumed he was horrified, obviously ignorant of what real combat was even like.

"Commander...that...it was a little excessive-" She whipped her head right around to Kaidan who was standing over the deceased alien. And her eyes went wide as she registered his words.

_Excessive? How can you say that!? They're committing global genocide born from bigotry! They-_

Before she could even mouth these words however, someone else spoke up. "What are you even talking about Kaidan? Shepard's right. These guys are trying to destroy an entire colony for god's sake! Four-eyes here got what he deserved. And I say the rest of them deserve the same fate. I'm actually looking forward to ot," Ashley finished, now hefting up her rifle.

"I did admire your style Commander. It was almost Krogan of you," Wrex shouted from around the corner, already on the other side of the room's barricade.

Shepard ignored them and turned her attention back to Shield. He stood there in turn, returning her stare from behind the darkened visor.

"We still have one more compound left to clear. I don't care what you think and I don't care if you have _moral qualms_ about how we do our job. But you're going to do what I say, whether you like or not, you hear me? I tell you to jump, you ask 'how high.' If you question my command anytime during our mission again, I will have you expedited through the Alliance' Justice System for jeopardizing an Alliance Operation." He didn't reply. "UNDERSTOOD?"

Several moments went by before he slowly nodded in the affirmative and answered grudgingly.

"Loud and clear Shepard."

Shield quickly trudged past her as soon as he heard Wrex's voice announcing it was clear shortly after. Shepard then turned her attention to the rest of the squad. Tali and Garrus stood silently behind the two marines. "You heard him. Move out." They made care to avoid the unsightly mess before them.

* * *

**2170 CE**

She tried to fall back asleep. But the sheets were too uncomfortable for her tonight. Too hot. Too heavy. She tossed and turned and tossed and turned and flailed around before eventually just surrendering any thought of being able to fall back asleep. She decided to then just settle down and lay there in the dark defeated. After a few minutes of calmly laying on her bed however, she finally began to notice how wet her sheets were. Then she grimaced.

_Ew. Why am I so sweaty!?_

Too tired to actually get up and change them though, she resigned herself to her fate. She stuck a finger in her ear as a faint ringing noise began to make itself known inside it. As an afterthought, she slowly looked over to the alarm clock on her nightstand.

04:21:56.

She groaned.

_Ugh. Tonight's going to be one of those nights huh?_

She turned her head back to the ceiling above her. She continued rubbing the inside of her ear as the ringing continued.

_I can't go to sleep. My sheets are gross. And my ear won't stop ringing. Why you do this ear? Why are you ringing?!_

Then she sat herself up.

_Wait. Is that coming from...over there?_

Curiosity eventually overcoming her, the girl found the strength to throw herself out of the bed to investigate. She first blindly stumbled around the room, attempting to locate what the source of the annoying sound might be. And after several minutes, her investigation eventually led her over to her bedroom window. Flipping off its shutters, she looked out with confusion. The ringing was definitely louder now. But the first thing her eyes caught sight of were simply the stars in the night sky. Beautiful as always. She would never admit it, but she could stare at them for hours. She loved climbing the hilltop in the backyard with dad, and laying on her back once they reached the top. It was a tradition they did every Saturday night. Lying there with their heads among the grass, the dew wetting their backs, staring up at the millions of brilliant stars above...it was one of the few moments in the week she ever got time alone with him. With how much time they spent there each night, by just her tenth birthday, she could even confidently name every constellation in the night sky.

The ringing now grew louder.

She shook her head and resumed focus back to her current task. Moving her gaze down from the night sky, she found that the first floors of Mister Denghao's house and the Cooperson's had their lights on. Mister Denghao was past seventy, and he rarely stayed up past 19:00:00. And the Cooperson's had two children, neither past nine. None of their neighbors ever stayed up this late. And now she noticed something flashing far off in the distance, far, far past their houses. The ringing was getting louder still.

Then a sudden bright flash of light blinded her. She cried out in surprise, finding herself taking several steps back from the window covering her eyes. After blinking profusely, she hurriedly looked back out the window to see what had caused it. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, but a radiant ray of orange now cast itself across the houses and dirt road below. It illuminated everything outside her window, and she could now see people running through the streets below, in what had initially been inky darkness.

_What the heck are they doing? Why does Mister Collins have his suitcase out at f-_

The glass of the window violently shattered across her face,and the sonic boom that followed it knocked her several feet away from the window. She found herself screaming as she hit the floor.

"JANE!"

Her mother burst into her room fully dressed. She scooped Jane up into her arms. The young girl realized that they were both in tears.

"Mom! My-my-my win-"

"Oh god! You're alright! You're alright!" Her mother smothered her for several more seconds before letting her feet touch the ground. "Jane! Pack your things! We're leaving!"

"What?" she sniffed, red-eyed, trying to calm down. Her mother's hysterics weren't helping. "Why?"

"We don't have time honey! Your father's already getting the VT1 ready. Hurry and pack a change of clothes! I still need to get my and daddy's things. Be downstairs in less than a minute!" Her mother flit out of her bedroom.

"MOM?"

No answer.

Jane wheeled around her room in a panic.

_What the hell's happening-_

She sprinted over to her closet first and rummaged around for what seemed like an eternity before eventually finding her travel bag. Grabbing it, she rushed back across the room to her clothes drawer and started yanking out shirts, socks, pants, bras, whatever ended up in her hand. As she cleared the first drawer, she heard a scream from downstairs.

BLAM. BLAM.

She froze. Gun shots reverberated throughout the house. They had come from downstairs.

"COME ON!" she heard someone yell.

She snapped herself out of her stupor and snapped the bag shut. Jane hurriedly did one more comb over of her room.

_Do I-_

BANG. BANG.

More gun shots rang through the bedroom. She cried out in shock and froze where she was. It slowly registered that they had come from outside this time. Without the tinted window, the bright orange lights now danced inside her room, casting sinister shadows that snaked all across it. The ringing was louder than ever now. Despite its volume, she could still hear people shouting wildly outside.

"MOM?! I'M DONE!"

No answer.

Panicked, she slung the bag over her shoulder and sprinted out of her room. She looked into the open doorway across from her. Her parent's room. Empty.

Then, without hesitation, she began to sprint down the hallway. She heard yelling coming from downstairs now. Her father. He was yelling something.

Her bare feet pounded against the carpeted floor as she rocketed down the corridor.

She was only several feet from the stair case now.

"JANE! DON'T COME DO-"

BANG.

She heard gun shots. She ran even harder.

Then the floor became like quick sand under her, slowing her movement. Her progress forward stopped. The floor slowly began to swallow her. Her feet were the first to disappear. She now felt a weightlessness as she began to fall into the gaping maw. She lost her sight as it consumed her vision. Everything had become pitch black again. She stretched out her arms, trying to grab on to something that could stop it from taking her. It continued to envelop her, in spite of her efforts. She lost her sense of hearing last before she was fully enveloped. And then she fell.

And fell.

And fell.

And fell.

* * *

**2183 CE**

Shepard stopped herself from falling backward as the second explosion rocked the room. Taking her chance, she rolled out from underneath the balcony and looked straight up to find the enemy rocket drone hovering right above her.

"SCATTER!"

She fired her pistol at it from straight below, the drone glimmering bright blue as her bullets flung off its kinetic barriers. Someone's overload immediately followed her gunshots, short circuiting the robot's shields. And then a carnage shot came from far away, what seemed to be from the level below her, and was the last to hit the drone. It ignited in a bright plume of orange.

"HAAAA-"

She jerked around to face the Batarian who was letting loose a guttural yell at her. His right arm was already cocked back as he did. And half of it was encased in a shimmering orange gauntlet that had spikes protruding around its knuckles. Fabricated by its omni-tool she quickly deduced. Shepard then realized the alien was planning to hit her with it. She ducked down and rolled backwards, causing the Batarian to swing and miss, his fist curving through the air until meeting a wall with a solid CRACK.

Popping back up from her roll with shotgun now in hand, the vanguard let the Batarian have one, two, three quick successive rounds of shredded metal. Its shields, armor, and flesh were torn apart by each shot, in that order. Alarms then beeped in her earpiece, and the gun vented gas. Overheated. She sheathed it on her back and exchanged it for her sidearm, whipping it off her thigh. She now had time to actually scan the area around her.

Nothing.

Her HUD's short range radar indicated the same. Shepard took another moment to take stock of the subterranean dome's layout. She was back at the facility's entrance, standing at the top of a short flight of stairs, her team nowhere in sight. Following her command, they had all split up. Cautiously, she took several steps out into the open and strained her eyes to locate them.

They were all scattered around the enormous underground chamber. She could hear Wrex bellowing from the pit located below the main floor, and gun shots were ringing from the opposite side of the room. The only squad mates she could visibly see were Kaidan and Ashley who were dug in on the right half of the gigantic lobby, pinned down by several more Batarians that were firing at them.

Every fusion torch on the asteroid had been shut down, foiling the terrorist's plot to drop it on the unsuspecting colony of Terra Nova. At this point, Shepard would normally just have Joker bomb the facility from orbit, killing most of the Batarians in a fiery inferno and burying alive those who didn't.

But they had hostages. The girl that had first contacted them and whatever faculty that still remained alive. The Batarians had sent them a recording of their voices not minutes after shutting down the last torch. So they actually had to siege the structure instead, destroying its defenses one by one before being able to march in.

She aimed down her pistol sight and fired several warning shots at the nearest Batarian attacking Kaidan and Ashley's position. It turned away from them, looking for those responsible. Facing her direction was just what she had wanted however, and she flung a warp at it. The commander's biotics instantly tore apart its shield and bits of exposed skin, most of which occurred around its face. She then let loose a real volley this time, hitting most of the Batarian's eyes dead center. She moved on Kaidan and Ashley's location immediately after, staving off any more of the aliens that tried to get in her way. After killing two four-eyed freaks trying to flank them, she was finally able to saddle up beside the two marines.

"Commander!"

"Kaidan! Give me a sitrep."

"They're two Batarians hiding behind those crates straight ahead. We'd be able to handle them except their's a third perched on that balcony up top."

He pointed it out.

"Commander, do you have any grenades on you? That would clear them out real easy," Ashley jumped in.

"Don't need them. Kaidan, you remember being taught in basic that we're not supposed to mix biotics?"

"Yeah?" he replied quizzically.

"I want you to send a lift field at those Batarians."

"They're behind cover. It wouldn't be able to reach them."

"Not at them, send it in between the two crates they're hiding behind."

"What would that-"

"Just do it!"

He shut up and obliged, popping out of cover long enough to manipulate a mass effect field exactly where she had indicated. As he ducked back down behind cover, Shepard got up shortly after, letting loose a warp at the field he had just created. And as soon as the two mass effect fields interacted with each other, a bright explosion erupted forth. It resulted in a large plume of violet rocketing past them, casting shadows over a large portion of the walkway around them. The two Batarians hadn't stood a chance. And without their friendly fire, the remaining sniper was picked off easily.

"Damn Commander!" Ashley shouted impressed as they emerged from cover.

"I'll have to save that trick for later!" Kaidan remarked as they made to move.

She rallied them now that they were no longer stuck, and made an executive decision to charge to the other side of the room, where she now spotted Vakarian. His blue visor was unmistakable even from this distance. And as Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley made their way over to his position, the bodies began to pile up. The Batarians went down quicker than they did on Elysium. And as far as she could tell, her squad wasn't getting anything worse than a few grazed extremities, something easily fixed with a stim of gel. It was clear that the Batarians on the asteroid were simple terrorists, slavers most likely. Not the professional military of the Hegemony as she had first suspected.

_Although not like there's really a difference. You'd think having two more eyes would at least help your aim. _

She lifted the Batarian on a balcony above Garrus while Ashley littered it with bullets. They had reached the Turian's fox hole in less than five minutes. He had taken cover behind a circle of crates at the base of the staircase opposite to the entrance. How he had gotten all the way to the opposite side of the room safely, Shepard hadn't a clue. As lucky as he might have been, she had to give him some credit. Making it this far over alone was no small feat.

Their band of four became five not a minute later as the Krogan Wrex emerged from the chamber's pit, coated in Batarian blood. She smiled at the sight of him, beginning to think taking him along had been the right idea afterall. Nodding to the Krogan, Shepard did one last sweep over the room. The chamber had grown quiet. And she didn't see any other enemies. She then turned around to Kaidan who was now looking up the staircase.

"Kaidan, do a manual scan of the room for hard suits."

"On it Commander. But I think that-"

"DIE SHEPARD-"

BANG. BLAM. BANG. BAM. CRACK. BLAM. BANG.

The Batarian slumped back dead inside the small module it had leaped from. The door it had opened for a split second closed again.

"...I think we're clear Commander."

"Looks that way." She turned to the others. "Did any of you see the hostages?"

"That's a negative Commander."

"Same here."

"Didn't see anything Shepard."

"Nothing down there." The Krogan made a gesture back to the pit.

"Well then split up. I want-"

"You know what I want Shepard?"

It took less than the blink of an eye for all of them to turn toward the source of the voice. At the top of the staircase they were standing below now hosted five Batarians. The lime-green one at the fore she recognized immediately as Balak. One of the Alliance's most wanted. His face was plastered on the media after the Ferris Fields incident two years ago. And in person, he was the ugliest sonuva bitch she had ever laid eyes on.

It also happened to be the one that had just spoken to them.

"-I want you Humans to suffer."

"Trust me. We started suffering as soon as we saw your face," she spat back.

"Ah. Yes. Make your jokes. I'm about to make one out of the Alliance's most famed attack dog."

Shepard pointed her pistol at him with her right hand, while conjuring a sphere of dark energy in the other. Out of her peripherals, she observed her squad making similar moves. The only thing that prevented her from immediately cutting into the Batarian however was a small clicking sound coming from its left hand. Balak was holding a small device in it. Flicking its cap on and off. The Batarian's jowls curved upwards.

"I hope I have your attention now."

_A detonator._

"You filthy-"

"Shepard! Watch what you say next! Or you might find the Humans you came to save in pieces. If you actually care about your people, you'll do what I say."

"And why do you think I would do that?" she yelled at him, eyes wide with fury.

"Because this is a detonator Shepard! You look at me the wrong way and everyone here dies!"

"Why are you doing this!?" Kaidan shouted from behind her.

"Why? WHY? To deliver justice for our people. To punish you Humans for every crime you've ever committed!" He started pacing back and forth at the top of the stairs. "But luckily for you, your comeuppance will have to wait another day. I'm leaving this asteroid. If you try to stop me, your little helper and the rest of your Humans will die."

"You don't get to leave Balak. Not after what you've done," Shepard growled in a low tone.

"What I'VE done?!" Balak shouted enraged. "This is nothing that compares to what's been done to the Batarians! We've been forced into exile, forced to strive on what we can scrounge up! It's been like that for decades-"

Shepard forced a laugh. The Batarian couldn't tell and didn't care whether it was sincere or not.

"YOU DARE?!"

"Please! Go on! I'd love to hear more about the suffering of your people."

"YOU-"

"YOU'RE NOT THE INNOCENT PARTY HERE! YOU brought all of that upon yourself! YOU exiled yourselves because you were spoiled children who didn't get their way. YOU are forced to live in your own squalor because you're weak! You had centuries more than us to establish your own space, gather your own resources-"

"YOU invaded our space! Took OUR resources! When we approached the Council for aid they brushed us off! We were left to defend ourselves. But the Humans were stronger than us. We knew that. The Council knew that. But it didn't matter. YOU and _YOUR_ kind are the only reason we're in this position!"

Shepard tilted her head to the far right, hoping to infuriate him even more with the Batarian equivalent of the finger, and made to point an actual finger accusingly at him as well.

"YOU are insane. The Batarians are in this position because you have no friends on the Council, no allies on the Presidium, and no connections in the entirety of Citadel Space. And you want to know why? Because you're people are disgusting two-bit slavers that prey on the weak and take advantage of those who can't fight back!"

"DISINGENUOUS LIES-"

"The bombing of Mannovai! Annexing the Asari colony of Esan! Clashing with C-Sec forces when you Batarians tried to enslave Enael! This all happened before Humanity even came on the Galactic stage. So you're right. Humans are stronger than you. In fact, we're simply just better than you. We don't kill millions on a whim. We're not MONSTERS LIKE YOU-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH SHEPARD! You can't understand...in fact, no, you don't want to understand. We're destroying this colony because we have no other CHOICE! ...Sometimes, you have to get someone's attention before they'll listen."

Shepard's eyes flitted to the ground for a moment, her voice quieting to a whisper. "...So that's what Elysium was then...Mindoir. Just a way to get our attention?" She looked back up to the sickly green Batarian and stared at him with such hatred that the alien reflexively took a step back. "Well. Now you have it."

She extended her left arm and released a mass effect field in his direction. A trail of indigo emanated from the biotic sphere as it flew up the staircase toward the Batarian. It hit Balak just a split second after she had loosed it, encasing his entire body in a shimmering blue stasis field.

She quickly drew her eyes to his left hand next.

Her heart sank as she saw that his finger was pressing the button down.

The stair well became a shooting galley as both sides began to exchange fire. She shut her eyes, letting bullets whiz toward her face and bounce off her kinetic barriers. She made no effort to get behind cover. She braced herself for what she had just done.

* * *

**2170 CE**

Jane's eyes slowly opened.

Something faint in the distance shimmered.

She strained her eyes, squinting.

A small circle of light was shining off in the distance.

But it seemed like light years away.

And she could see nothing else. A darkness surrounded her, enveloped everything around her. It was thick, like she was floating in a black hole, the void nigh impenetrable. She would have never even known her eyes were open...save for that single source of light her sight was affixed to in the distance. She could see nothing else save for the light.

She laid there on her stomach, in what she now believed to be mud, for what seemed like an eternity. Dazed and confused. Cold and alone.

She had just been in bed, and then in the next, everything had become a nightmare. A nightmare still ongoing.

_...Am I dead? _

The thought repeated over and over in her head. The light that was yards away flickered.

_Is...that...that light at the end...that one mom always goes on abou-_

Jane cried out in pain when she tried to move. Her entire body seemed to scream in agony. She lay there in the mud, writhing. Everything burned. The shell shock had worn off, and every bruise, laceration, and injury now registered in her mind. Shrapnel under her skin. Metal crushing her body. Blood coagulating on her ripped pajamas.

Everything around her was black like ink. Everything save the light several feet away from her. She grimaced and reached toward it. Her body screamed for her to stop.

She grabbed a handful of mud and dragged herself forward.

All she needed to do was reach the light. Everything would be alright if she just reached the light.

Or that's what her mind told her.

She extended her other arm and this time grabbed a handful of fabric. The texture was familiar. Her bedroom rug.

She blinked a drop of blood out of her eye.

_Look at the light._

She laid there prone in the dark, trying to register what she had gripped in her fingers.

_Reach for the light._

She winced as another wave of pain flooded her brain. She reached her arm out again and heaved herself forward another few inches.

_Reach the light._

The pain was excruciating. She faded in and out of consciousness several times. But every time she opened her eyes, she just saw that one thing.

_The light._

She continued to drag herself over the mud. Over the pieces of carpeted floor. Over sheared parts of metal. Past searing hot iron rebar. Every time she dragged her body forward, it screamed out in pain. But she kept lugging it forward. Kept moving it toward the light.

It was getting closer.

She grimaced as she continued to haul herself toward it. The light was blinding now, the darkness unable to completely swallow her now that she was so close to the source.

_Almost...there-_

She extended her arm one last time through the shimmering gathering of light. And then she pulled herself through.

She was completely blinded as she did.

She shut her eyes in response to the amount of stimuli they now received. She lay there blinking rapidly, trying to adjust herself to her new environ. And everything around her slowly came into focus. And the first thing Jane recognized was the hill before her. The hill behind her house.

It was painted a bright orange, colored by the raging fires she could now hear crackling above her.

She forced her arms to heave the rest of her body through the hole. And with one final tug, it escaped the rubble to become free. Wasting no time in mustering her strength, Jane slowly pushed herself off the ground, although being nearly blinded again by the searing pain she felt doing so. Once she was standing weakly on her feet however, the girl looked back to where she had just crawled out from.

Her home. Or what was left. What she saw caused tears to stream down her face. It was ruined. The home she had grown up in. Gone. Just like that.

Smoke plumed from the wreckage. Bent, broken, twisted bits of metal stood where the walls of the first floor once did. The rest of the abode was unrecognizable, having caved into the pile of rubble now strewn before her. The dark night sky she had looked upon earlier was now blood orange, an effect of the flames consuming the other colonial houses around her. She fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. She didn't know what happened. She didn't know what she did. What she could have done to deserve this.

She began to act like a baby, moving around on all fours, looking around sadly, attempting to find anyone around that could help. Anyone that could-

She made eye-contact with something.

It stood on two legs. And it stood up straight. And it now stood upon the wreckage of her home.

At first she thought it was her father. It was tall. But something on its face caused her to stand back on her feet and take a step back. Pain shot through her as she did, but all she was truly aware of was the terror that currently gripped her. The terror of what she saw. The fire reflecting off the being's eyes. All four of them.

"Hey! Look what we have here! You must be a tough one!" It shouted over the roaring inferno, starting to swagger over to her. How nonchalant it was with the horrors that surrounded it terrified her even further. It toted a large gun in its hands. It had a large metal barb sticking out of its nozzle.

She took several more steps back. Her knees almost buckled out from under her.

"And a child too?! Oh, isn't this just my lucky day! Parahn certainly likes you young! You all go for so much more-"

She turned and ran as fast as she could up the hill. Her body screamed for her to stop, the pain echoing through her arms, legs, chest, and head almost unbearable. But her mind told her to keep moving. To keep running as fast as she could. Jane's feet pounded up the grassy knoll. She barely registered the monster's remarks as she cleared the hillside.

"Haha! This just keeps getting better and better! Go ahead! I'll give you a head start!"

She reached the top of the hill and immediately made for the forest. She once thought of it as a place of refuge for her. A place where she could always go to for solitude and be alone with her thoughts when Karen or Jonesy or another colonist annoyed her. As Jane ran toward it now however, the forest seemed almost malevolent. The large swath of tall, deciduous trees cast long dark shadows across the field she was running through, sharply contrasting with the flames at her back. But it still seemed, at least for tonight, that it would again be a place of refuge for her.

She didn't give a thought to the colony behind her now. To look back and see what it looked like, whether anything was still standing, whether she could still see if anyone was still alive down below. She ignored everything else around her as she just kept on running.

Branch after branch whipped across her face, leaving numerous cuts across it. The stinging though did nothing to slow her.

They were nothing compared to the pain she had already endured. She sprinted as fast as she could through the brush, batting her way through the undergrowth. The area around her was almost pitch black again, far enough from the colony that the light of its fires no longer reached her. Only the stars in the night sky illuminated the path before her. The stars-

THUNK.

She let out a scream as a harpoon lodged itself in the trunk of a tree inches away. She ran harder.

She was becoming dizzy, pain shooting up her spine, legs aching, lungs screaming to stop. She had run far enough. She couldn't run anymore.

But it was right behind her. She couldn't stop. She-

It hit her face like a freight truck. Her head jerked back and hit the ground hard. She lay dazed on her back now, struggling to stay conscious.

"That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be," the grotesque alien said now standing above her.

She attempted to turn and crawl away but he quickly pinned her to the ground, straddling her. She struggled to get him off, but his knees kept her arms stuck to the ground. He smiled cruelly on top of her.

"Trust me. I like this as much as you do. You Humans are so disgusting." He spat to the side. "I mean look at all that fur. Absolutely sickening." Then with the free hand not holding her right shoulder down, it started rummaging through the small pouches on its belt.

"Don't worry, I just need to get this chip in. Won't take long at all-"

She screamed and struggled, tears streaming down her face as she fought against her attacker futilely. He snickered as he continued to rummage through his belt for what he was looking for. She eventually stopped fighting and became quiet.

She realized she still needed a dress for Formal.

_I never picked out that dress with Karen._

She turned her head to the left. The growth of the forest floor brushed her cheeks.

_Eluam...was this...I still...wanted to..._

"Huh? Given up already? I thought you might have some more fight left in you...dammit! Where'd I put that damn thing?!"

She resigned herself to her fate. Her house was destroyed. Everyone in the colony was most likely dead. Her parents-

Her eyes suddenly focused upon something resting on the forest floor.

The alien's boot. It was coming off the leg that was resting on her left arm. It had a knife sheathed in it.

She discretely began moving her arm. His leg was placed on her bicep, not the joint. So she could still bend it. Reach out with it. And she tried. She slowly slid her hand along the floor, through the grass, toward the knife. Stretching it further and further. She was so close now-

But it wasn't enough. It was still out of reach. Just an inch out of her reach. An inch. If she could just reach it. If she could just-

"AH! There it is. Right in plain siaRGH-"

The four-eyed alien screamed in pain as she sunk the knife into the back of his leg. She ripped it out and still glowing blue, pushed him off with all her strength. The alien hit a tree and rolled to the ground.

"AGH! YOU BITCH!"

He immediately attempted to push himself back off the ground but she had already flung herself at him, not allowing him to. This time...she was the one on top.

Jane stared into his dark beady eyes. They had no color. No pupil. No iris. No soul. She found them devoid of anything that could even remotely be called Human.

As soon as she had jumped him, she drove the knife into the upper left one first. The alien screamed in agony again but that didn't stop her. She drove the knife into his face again and again, continuing long after the alien had stopped making noise. It's face bore little resemblance to what it had just been after she was finished what seemed like days later. She thrust the knife into the monster's face one last time before leaving it embedded there.

She then slowly got off, and put her back against a tree, sliding to the ground.

She was devoid of any feeling now.

Even pain.

Whereas before it had snaked through every inch of mind and in every thought she had, she barely even registered it now.

She was tired.

She was empty.

She didn't even give a second thought to the branches snapping behind her now, or when more voices began to speak.

"I could have sworn I heard something-"

"Quiet."

She let the first two pass without making a word. She didn't have the energy to.

The third one was the first to notice the corpse, and then subsequently, her. He jumped when he noticed her outline.

"HANDS UP!" he shouted swinging his rifle at her.

The rest of them wheeled to face her too, alarmed by his sudden outburst.

"I said Quiet lieutenant!"

The one who had just spoken now stared at her through their helmet. It was too dark to see through the person's visor. Jane didn't know whether it was Human or alien. But Jane didn't know and Jane didn't care. Jane didn't care as she fluttered in and out of consciousness. Jane didn't care as her upper torso toppled to the ground. Jane didn't care as she was picked up and passed out in one of their arms. Jane didn't care as the darkness took her.

* * *

**2183 CE**

An exorbitant amount of time had passed. But no explosion. No shrieks of terror. Shepard opened her eyes.

The Batarians flanking Balak had died quickly, without having even put up a fight. She heard her shield go down, but not a single bullet had grazed her. The terrorists weren't nearly skilled enough to do her any harm apparently. The only dangerous four-eye here was Balak. And Balak remained where it stood, still frozen in her stasis field.

_That's not how biotics work. My biotics couldn't have stopped the signal-_

"Commander?"

As he spoke, Shepard didn't need to give him a response. With a flick of her wrist, she released the Batarian from stasis.

And he was quick. His bullets immediately started bouncing off her shields.

But she was quicker. It was all over in the span of a second.

She dropped her pistol. The pump of her shotgun was pulled into her other hand not a moment sooner. Then her shields dropped. And a field of blue appeared and then evaporated around her. Balak smiled. Then she pulled the shot gun's trigger once. A spread of serrated metal escaped from the gun's muzzle, rocketing up the stairs. The metal shredded Balak's shields apart. Their impact threw him off-balance. He staggered back violently.

Then the following volley from her team came. Sniper fire, shotgun groupings, and assault rifle ammo tore apart the tech armor below his kinetic barriers. A large amount of the metal ripped through the Batarian itself. She quickly held up a fist to halt their fire just in time.

They all looked on as the Batarian fell to the ground, groaning, a river of blood now streaming from his various bullet wounds down the staircase.

He was still alive.

_Good._

She put away her shotgun and bent over to pick her pistol back off the ground. She then began to walk up the staircase towards him.

Balak attempted to reach for his own gun, but the Batarian was too weak to even lift his arm. She still made sure to kick it away once she was at the top of the staircase.

"Argh." Balak's head swung back and forth across the floor. It coughed up blood. "...you Humans all-"

BLAM.

BLAM. BLAM. BLAM.

She stood there frozen for a moment before remembering where she was and holstered the smoking gun in her hand.

_One for every eye. Try to reach your god damn paradise now._

She bent down over his face. But she stopped herself. She realized her crew was still present at the bottom of the stairs. Then their conversation from just moments before buzzed through her head.

_The whole thing had been a feint. A hoax. A bluff. A bluff he had almost escaped with. If I let him go and the hostages had never been in any real danger in the first place-__But if Balak's detonator was an empty bluff...then why did Balak still press it? If there were no bombs, why did Balak still press it as if it would do something?_

She stood up and turned her attention towards the bottom of the stairs. Kaidan, Ashley, Wrex, and Garrus all stared back at her, waiting for an order.

"Balak's done for. Now we-"

She realized they were missing someone.

_Where the hell is Tali?_

Then she did a double take.

"Where the hell is Shield?"

* * *

**2170 CE**

"Hey kid. I know he stopped by here earlier. Did Ernesto tell you where the hell he was going before he left?"

She lay there on the cot silent.

"Look I know he was here. Did he-"

"Leave her alone Mort. I saw Lieutenant Zabaleta the second block down from here. I don't know what he's doing but I'm sure you can still catch him there."

"...thanks," he said turning around to the voice.

As Mort left her tent, the other that had spoken to him entered. This was the third time he had visited her, or the third time she had actually seen him visit. He was tall enough that he had to crouch to enter the small makeshift tent she was in. He was probably taller than her dad, just a couple inches past six feet. His skin was a caramel color, and his eyes an even darker brown. So was the hair on his head. What little he had.

The man had the look of someone older than their actual age. And the first time she had seen him, she thought his face was harsh, one of a strict man incapable of empathy. And at first, she didn't want to speak to him either. But...as they locked eyes...she was surprised to find he was someone completely different. His eyes were soft and gentle, and she was only surprised further to find his face conveying genuine concern for her instead of feigned sympathy like the rest.

The first night he had apparently checked on her regularly, or so the soldier that called himself Ernesto had said. She had apparently slept through the next day too, the day when the soldiers left the cover of the forest and took back the colony. The first time she awoke, he had told her that the aliens had already left, and the marines were now cleaning up what they had left behind. All the unimaginable horrors the aliens had left behind. They had taken her with them to their main base of operations now currently located in the colony's capital. Three days had passed since she had been found, and they were still finding body after body under the debris and destruction left by the slavers. She had left her tent only once after she awoke, and the very first thing she had seen were the hundreds of dead in body bags.

She had never left her tent since. This man continued to check on her though unlike the others. He wasn't even a medic like the man named Stims, who checked on her periodically out of obligation. And he didn't want to talk about what had happened like the other man Mort. She couldn't even if she wanted. The man with her simply showed kindness just for the simple sake of being kind. Every time he entered her tent, he brought snacks asides from her water and food, things to make sure she was comfortable, and came in just to give her company.

"How are you doing?" he asked her, sitting himself down on the dirt floor.

She didn't reply.

"Oh, wait a second." He swung the bag on his back in front of him and started digging through it. "Here. Drink this." He handed her a box of juice. "One of the biotics was willing to part with it...the Evac ships should be here soon alright?. Just hold on until then. You're going to be okay."

She took the juice and stared at it in her hands. He smiled wistfully at her. Then he looked back out the tent flaps.

"I've heard Mort still hasn't gotten much from you."

She continued to silently stare at the juice pack.

"Where you lived in the colony, your age...not even your name. Nothing." He sighed. "...Do you have any relatives you think we could contact?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Are you sure?" A lack of response gave him his answer. "...Alright. When our shuttles do arrive, you'll be taken onto one of the cruisers orbiting the planet and checked into its med bay. There they'll examine you again and treat you for everything Stims couldn't. After that...I'm not quite sure. If you don't have any other family to care for you...I think you'll most likely be brought to the Alliance Academy for Juveniles. If you are, you'll like it. It's a good program. You'll receive housing, food, a support group-"

He stopped talking as she continued to stare at the juice. He placed his hand on her shoulder causing her to look up.

"Whatever happens...I want you to know you can always contact me if you ever need anything alright? If you ever run into trouble, if you ever need help...if you ever need someone to talk to." His face grew serious. "Do you remember my name?"

She locked eyes with him. And she found herself speaking for the first time since she had woken.

"David..."

"Lieutenant David Edward Anderson. I want you to remember it."

"...ok."

"May I know yours?"

"...Jane."

"Jane? That's a pretty name," he replied with a gentle smile.

He took back his hand, and sat back down on the dirty floor of the tent. "Well Jane-"

"Jane Shepard."

His eyes grew wide. "...No...you can't be..not Ed Shepard's kid!?"

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Edward M. Shepard**

File: Service Number 1312-AD-1014 (Inactive)

Edward Michael Shepard was born in the year 2114 CE in the city of Earth's _United North American States_, Vancouver. Enlisted in the Military of the United North American States 2132 CE. Chosen for transfer to Systems Alliance upon founding in 2134 CE (Rank translated to Corporal).

Assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Division 2134 CE. Participated in high-risk missions to colonize space beyond Sol Relay [see pre-contact logs] - Assigned rank Major. Served with distinction on Shanxi 2157 CE (Highlight: Evicted Turian forces with N7 taskforce Cobra from City of Qian. Led successful assault on Turian staging point Aephus. Commandeered Turian aircraft and boarded PFS Daetus. Commandeering PFS Daetus, fired several volleys upon the Turian 57th Flotilla before setting ship on collision course, destroying the PFS Koranus. Received Distinguished Service Medal. Received Medal of Honor. Received Medal of Valor. Received Star of Terra.). Assigned rank General 2157 CE. Military Vocational Code A6. Resigned 2158 CE.

**Why did you want me to send this file again Gellix? I thought you were tasked looking after the other one. The one that was still alive.**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**This took ten times longer to write than I thought it would. Lame. But on the other hand...One hundred thousand words baby. Twenty chapters. 5,000 words per chapter. I even have to scroll down to post new chapters now! Yeaaaah. Aside from 10k of that mostly being AN and 'Codex' entries...****I still say the story has 100 thousand words. No one can convince me otherwise. Hopefully I'll make better progress next week though! Could you imagine? Two chapters a week? Hngh. Until then!**

**Oh and-**

**Wolf: **Her reaction would've been juicy to see fo sho. Am I saving it for later? Is it something we'll just never know? Maybe. And Shield would probably let it get to his head if you told him that. Dude has a big enough ego as it is. Appreciate your input though as always man!

**TMNT: **Really. Shield finds them uncomfortable but the amount of times he's already been concussed, you think he wouldn't leave the Normandy without it. As for credits, that problem might be solved sooNOT. The only credits he'll come across are the ones left in unopened crates. He's just a poor boy that needs no sympathy. Credits are easy come, easy go.

**Casper: **Yes.

**Lieutenant: **At first I would've said naw, this story isn't dark at all. But then ^. So...the mood does vary wildly from chapter to chapter. But as the story goes on, I hope a common theme throughout all of them becomes apparent. What that theme is, I have no idea. But I'm sure its a good one. And I have to say, your conjecture is pretty on point. One of those theories is pretty, kinda, spot on almost. Shield's origins certainly won't stay a mystery forever. Until that shroud's lifted though, I hope the secret tantalizes your every waking moment. Oh and as for the Quarian opera...that was actually an in-game thing. I don't quite know where Bioware was going with that. Were they hinting that the Geth were observing the Quarians? That they still watched old vids of their creators in curiosity? That the Geth were hiding their transmissions in Quarian cultural vids? Who knows. I don't. Just included it for consistency I suppose. Always have fun with our back and forth bro!

**Hiccup:** But...what is love?

**GuardianoftheGalaxy'sGhettoBox: **It really means a lot to hear that man. I'm glad you enjoy it! That's one reason why I'm glad I found this site and started this thang. If I just wrote it up in word and left it in the folder, I may have never gotten past Eden Prime. Knowing people actually expect something to come out has been a great motivator. And if it's one thing I hate the most, it's not finishing something. I'll be damned if I don't finish the story by this summer. Although I'll still be writing until 2016 if necessary!...I hope not though.

**In the Next Chapter: She's a maniac, maaaaniac at yo' doorrrr. And she's glancing like she's never glanced befoooore-Oh. Shepard.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	20. Friend or Foe?

"What a surprise. I was beginning to think the Doctor was going to keep you in the med bay until we found Saren."

"Same here. You think three days would be a little excessive for a bump to the head."

"I don't know about other races, but for Turians? Yes."

We stood there in an awkward silence for a moment.

"So...was there something you wanted to ask?"

"Oh yes, yes there was. So, uh, do you remember that story you were telling the night we were at Flux? Did Shepard ever ask you for the end of it?"

"You're going to have be a little more specific. I remember telling a lot of stories that night."

"Oh you know...the one about the home grown organs and Doctor...Salarian?"

"Saleon."

"That was the one."

"No, I don't believe she has."

_Well, that's why I'm here._

"You mentioned you got a lead on him awhile back didn't you?"

"Yeah, I thought I did. I used to put out feelers for him every now and then, and a couple months ago, I finally found something. He got a ship named the MSV Fedele and changed his name to Doctor Heart. His idea of a joke I guess. I told the military but they weren't convinced it was him. I eventually got the new transponder frequency for his ship but I just couldn't get anyone to check it out."

_Music to my ears._

"Dude, we could just give those coordinates to Shepard. Have her check it out next time we get the chance!"

"I don't know Shield. We don't have time to-"

"Hey, you."

"Yeah?" I replied in Ashley's direction, wondering what she wanted. She took her sweet time sauntering over to the Mako from the weapons bench.

"These are what you wanted right?" She held a pouch in her outstretched hand.

"Uh...what are those?"

"Those heat clips the Geth carry. I thought you wanted them."

_Oh sweet!_

"Really?!" I took the pouch from her and took a peek inside. I counted about one, two, three, five in total, which was still more than I had hoped for. "I totally forgot I asked you to do that! I owe you one Ash."

"No problem," she said smirking.

"Heyyy, I don't think I ever actually asked how that mission went. The Geth give you guys any trouble down there?"

"Nothing we couldn't handle," Garrus casually replied.

"Yeah, they were pushovers. Cleared out their base and blew it sky high without any problems. Apparently Tali even found something that could help us in our search for Saren too. Though the Commander wasn't too clear on the details about that-oh, speak of the devil."

I heard her before Ashley had acknowledged her presence. The clomping of Shepard's boots made it sound like there was an Elcor onboard. Her clomping could probably be heard all the way from the bridge.

"Wrex, Ashley, Garrus-"

I turned around with the pause.

_Oh come on._

She grimaced while saying it. "...Shield."

"What is it Commander?" Ashley shouted to Shepard who was now marching over to her locker.

"Suit up and get ready to go. We're being dropped planet-side in about thirty minutes."

"Woah what's going on?" I followed up her question in alarm.

"An asteroid's on course to hit the colony of Terra Nova. We have four hours to change that."

* * *

**In the Present...**

_WhatDoIDo. WhatDoIDo. What do I dooooo-_

The back of my helmeted head bounced off the frame of the Mako as it shot up into the air. As my head rattled around, I heard Shepard yell out targets to Ashley, who was currently manning the mass accelerator.

"At our ten! Aim down that turret on the mobile track!"

"I see it!"

The blast rocked the entire vehicle.

_Shepard's a maniac. A bloodthirsty monster._

The way she had killed Charn replayed over and over again in my head.

_That's the most gruesome thing I've ever seen in my life. That was worse than that scene in Paranormal Entity. She fucking tore that guy in half. WITH HER MIND. I mean Shepard looks like fucking Carrie with how much of that Batarian's blood she's covered in_.

She hadn't even given the four-eyed bastard time to talk. One second Charn had been standing there passively, talking about how insane Balak was and then the next...the guy was lying in chunks on the floor.

_I didn't even know you could even do that with biotics. I mean-Focus. He's gone and dead. Focus on the here and living._

I continued to be jerked violently back and forth in the Mako as Shepard maneuvered it wildly around the missile turrets guarding the main facility. I was just too distracted by the general unpleasantness of the situation, and I sat there helplessly as my mind drifted back to the building attached to the third fusion torch.

What she had said at the third fusion torch was true. The Batarians here were in the process of sending an asteroid on a collision course with a planet. There was no reason they deserved any mercy. They were going to kill millions of people because...they were insane.

_Did Charn even really deserve to live? He might not have agreed with Balak but he was still a slaver regardless. He was still a complete scumbag...so why the hell did I argue with her?_

I wish I hadn't spoken up in the first place as the scenario played over and over again in my head.

_No. The reason I objected was that she could've talked him down. Could have let him leave without any trouble. She just needed to say a few words and...but should we have? I mean she's right. They were intending to go on a slave run before any of this even happened. Not like Charn was an innocent bystander. He killed Kate's brother didn't he?_

And that brought me back around to the current dilemma. Shepard didn't bother to 'persuasion check' the Batarian. Whether Mass Effect gameplay still even dictated what went on in this universe I had no idea. What I did know however was that when it came down to the decision... when Balak shows his face and gives her the ultimatum...there would only be one answer.

I kicked myself repeatedly for not realizing it sooner. Shepard had a Mindoir-Torfan background. Both were horribly brutal situations sharing one thing in particular. And that one thing happened to create the perfect storm for this scenario. I hoped she wouldn't. I really did. Hoped that she cared more about the lives of the civilians than blindly killing the individual responsible. But I couldn't leave it up to chance. And the feeling I had in my gut agreed. Shepard would rather kill Balak than let him leave. If I just tagged along and followed Shepard's lead, I would be resigning Kate and the other hostages to die.

Which left me in the current scenario of what the fuck I do.

_When it all goes down...do I force her at gun point to let Balak go? _

I let out a nervous laugh that didn't leave my helmet.

_Critical Mission Failure for sure. Sure way to getting myself killed after that whole melodramatic episode with Shepard...Could I maybe...sneak up on Balak before he detonates it? Kill him before he can react? ...How would I pull that off?_

My head jerked right as the Mako broke to a stop.

"Alright, everyone out. You see something with two pairs of eyes, you put a bullet between them."

"Aye-aye Commander," a majority of the squad replied, quickly exiting through the back of the Mako.

_Shit-Shit-Shit._

I was the last to get out of the vehicle, and just in time to see Shepard be the first to enter the facility. She was followed by Wrex and Ashley, and then Kaidan and Garrus after them. As I trailed behind Garrus, Tali brought up our rear, fiddling with something on her shotgun. Probably making it more deadly or something.

I didn't bother to ask. We walked through a fairly long and dark hallway before all seven of us eventually reached what seemed to be a secretary's office. A wide desk with a small console atop it sat unoccupied across from where we all entered. The rest of the room was barren of any furniture and was a homey charcoal grey. Ashley bent over to pick up a medi-gel kit and a box of grenades lying suspiciously on the floor. I could tell Garrus was examining the room wall to wall for any surveillance or booby traps that there could be. Shepard gathered the others standing idly by in a circle to formulate a battle plan, with me among them.

Instead of listening however, my attention was focused on the staircase to our left, which I knew led to the main room. The room where a lot of Batarians were itching to shoot at us and where multiple bombs were spread throughout. And somewhere to the left of the stairwell leading up, in a small alcove on either the first or second floor, was where the hostages were being held.

That would be my priority. Fight my way there regardless of Shepard's orders and find some way to crack the door open, allowing the researchers to escape.

"Weapons free. Come on." Shepard turned away from the group huddle and started slinking up the stairs. I was too late. It was already crunch time.

And the whole thing was chaos incarnate. One second all of us were in a tight-knit formation keeping an eye out for any sudden movements and the next we had all scattered. I followed my initial plan and took off left. Which coincidentally had the least amount of resistance. I made quicker progress than I anticipated, making it to the first alcove in the room I could see in seconds, with apparently no Batarians having set their sights on me in the process. I made one last sprint through the open walkway however and dove head first into the nook. I wasn't taking any chances.

I popped up from where I dove in to take a quick layout of my surroundings. It was as sparse as the office we had first walked into, while having the added bonus of being absent of Batarians. The sound of the fire fight outside the room I was in though was deafening. Something I wasn't planning on jumping back into anytime soon. Then I did a physical sweep of the room. No locked room and no hostages. I ran upstairs. The floor above the alcove seemed even smaller. There was no place where the hostages could possibly be either. I immediately cursed and ran back toward the stairs.

_Where the fuck are they!?_

"SCATTER!" I heard Shepard over my radio. I heard a subsequent explosion erupt somewhere outside the alcove.

_Dammit! Where-_

It hit me like a charging Krogan.

_The hostages were on the left side of the area. If you were walking back towards the exit. Which meant-_

They were actually on the right side. I cursed out loud again and sprang into action. I practically leaped down the stairs, and sprinted as fast as my legs would allow to the alcove's door, which emptied into the main lobby.

I could still reach them if Shepard and co. hadn't killed all the Batarians yet. With that in mind, I took off, out the door, and into the fray before me.

And as soon as I had exited the doorway, I literally screeched to a stop. Literally screeched. For I found myself face to face with one of the four-eyed terrorists. We were literally inches away from one another. I was so close I could hear him breathing heavily. He was the first Batarian I had actually seen without a helmet on asides from Charn, whom I didn't even get a good look at before he was...disposed of. And I have to say, Batarians were probably the most grotesque aliens I've seen yet. Aside from the Keepers. My body reflexively shivered at the thought of those nightmares.

The first thing I noticed was his agape mouth that displayed hundreds of needle-like teeth. They were reminiscent of a whale's baleen plate. And I'm assuming, that almost always, your eyes would next lay upon the fat roll of skin draping around their maw, which resembled a disgusting skin goatee. And sooner or later, the sight would inevitably cause your eyes to move up, and fall upon their nightmarish looking proboscis, which was an inverted triangle with eight nostrils. Add their freakishly giant eyes placed abnormally low and too close to their mouth with two creepy smaller ones placed abnormally high on their forehead, and you got a face not even a mother could love.

While simultaneously gagging inside my helmet, I threw a right hook as hard as I could straight to his face.

I knocked the Batarian back on his ass. Hard.

I had to shake my hand though with how much the punch had hurt. Batarians had craniums of steel apparently. Of course, I only shook my hand all about after I had killed him. I pulled the trigger of the predator in my left hand several times at his head in a panic. He had actually almost gotten himself back up, ALMOST, before the gun took down his shields and a bullet found its mark.

I was slightly disgusted with how I had just executed the guy lying on the floor, feeling dirty about killing him so unceremoniously. I gagged a little to be honest. But I had other things to worry about. I quickly turned my attention to the other side of the gigantic room. There was another alcove straight across from where I was. The only thing in my way was the giant pit in its center where I could hear either Wrex or Tali's shotgun going off. And I was sure that other room was where I would find the hostages.

Opting to not enter the pit where gunshots were being exchanged, I backtracked the way I came, past the facility's entrance, and onward to the alcove on the right. Much, much further ahead of me, I saw Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley marching down the corridor. After seeing the squad, I noticed Garrus's conical blue helmet poke up further off in their direction, loosing a gun shot not a moment later. Where exactly he was aiming, I wasn't quite sure. But with Shepard's small squad clearing the way before I arrived, I made it to the opposite side of the room lickety split. Running inside of the alcove, I immediately spotted a thin, horizontal window constituting part of a wall to my left. And I could see eyes peering out of it. Human eyes.

_SCORE._

I ran over the door and tried to interact with its interface, pushing the manual commands to open it. But the circle on the door didn't respond to my clicking, opting to stay red. Muttering to myself, I activated my omni-tool and tried to use what I learned from the manual to hack it. After fumbling around for a minute I gave up on that idea. Peering through the small glass strip, I could tell they were shouting at me to get them out. The walls must have been soundproofed however because even though I could see them opening and closing their moths, I couldn't hear a peep.

I did a 360 around the room, looking for anything that could help. The gun fire was dying down. I was running out of time.

_Oh God. I really hope that firefight right now isn't between Shepard and Balak._

_If it was these people would already be dead. _

_Oh. Right._

I looked around desperately for anything I could do. I couldn't get past the door, I couldn't hack it, I couldn't-

"TALI!"

I saw her out of the room's doorway as she flitted up a staircase from the room's pit. It was her shotgun that had been going off below the main floor. I yelled to her again. She heard me the second time and turned in my direction. I waved wildly to her, motioning her to come over. Looking around cautiously at first, the Quarian then made a quick beeline toward me when she saw the coast was clear.

"Shield!" she said panting. "I think we got them all. Shepard and-"

"Tali! No time! The hostages are in here! We need to get them out!"

"What! Have you gotten the door-"

"I can't! I need you to!"

I shoved her towards the door.

"Oh! Uh, I'll get it open!"

"Hurry!" I said louder than necessary, running back to the doorway and taking a peek outside.

My view was obscured. I could see the faint outlines of Wrex and Garrus on the far side of the room, and I imagined the rest of the team were most likely standing further ahead of them. With how tensed the two looked though-

_We don't have much time..._

"Are you close?"

"No, someone stripped the door of its actuator and physically jammed its magnetic latch! If I have a couple-"

"We don't have a couple more minutes Tali!"

"But-"

"DAMMIT!"

She cowered. I would've felt awful for raising my voice at her if I wasn't currently pulling out my hair, figuratively speaking.

_THEY'RE ALL GONNA-WAIT._

"Tali. Can you remotely deactivate things with your omni-tool?"

"Uh, yes, most-"

"There's a bomb on the other side of this door! Can you shut it down!?"

"Wha-what!? Another one?! I-I might-let-I'll try to sync to its signal," she started stuttering.

"Another one?!"

I had completely forgotten about the others.

"I already disabled them but that was because I-

"Just hurry!"

I peeked out the door way. I could hear shouting coming from further down the walkway.

_Oh Goooood-_

"I found it!"

"SHUT IT DOWN!" I shouted back at her.

She started typing away frantically on her omni-tool.

A thought crossed my mind.

_Why do you care about these people? They're not even real. Hell, they're not even essential characters. If a handful of people die it's not like-_

_What? Brain. Shut the fuck up. These people are *currently* as real as we are. We're not letting them die. Not if we can help it. There's not gonna be any orphans born here today. Not on my watch-_

Beep.

"...what was that?"

Beep.

"Just a few more seconds-"

Beep. Beep-Beep-Beep.

"What is THAT?"

Beep-Beep-Beep. Beep-Beep-Beep-BEEP-BEEP-BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEEeeeeee-

While the sound began to slowly die away, I exhaled heavily and dropped my gun. As calm as I thought I currently was, my heart was still trying to claw its way out of my chest.

"Got it!"

I fell backwards onto my butt.

_We did it._

Gun shots broke out back in the main chamber. But I ignored them. Shepard was a big girl. She could handle the rest of the Batarians herself.

* * *

Back on the ship, I stripped off my armor piece by piece until every component lay neatly organized in my locker.

Back when I just had the Onyx armor, I never actually had to take it off. Its fabric inlay was pretty comfortable, and with how light it was, I rarely felt like I was ever even wearing armor. Not that I could take it off if I wanted to. I didn't have anything under it back then except for some underwear.

But with how heavy the ceramic plating on the HKSW line was, clothing underneath was certainly needed, less I get the chafing of a life time. I owed Kaidan for helping me out there, as he lent me the spare uniform that I was currently wearing. The 'Janissary' armor had been hella uncomfortable the first time I donned it. Sometime after Luna, I remember unintentionally mentioning it to him. That had become an embarrassing conversation. But the dude was pretty chill about it. Didn't laugh or anything, just offered me his spare crew uniform, suggesting it would help. He really was a nice guy. Definitely needed to make it up to him somehow.

_And speaking of favors..._

I still had to do something for Ashley since she helped me mod my gun back when I wasn't the cool kid on the block. And I have to do something for Garrus since he saved me from those muggers too. And Tali for just helping me save those civilians-

I remembered why I had been so mad in the Mako while we were waiting for pick-up.

_Shepard._

I thought she had changed. Or that we had at least come to some kind of understanding. But no. She was just as mean to me as she was when I met her back on Prime. Chewed me out in front of everyone back at the third fusion torch and again when she realized I didn't help them kill Balak. Although mentioning that Tali and I saved the hostages seemed to shut her up.

"Hey princess, you done there?"

I turned around to find Wrex an inch away from my face.

"Uh...yeah. Go ahead Wrex." I stepped aside and motioned to the locker.

He muttered something back to me under his breath but I didn't bother to find out what he said. Probably something snarky. I just let out a heavy sigh in return.

_This is like freakin' high school. You know what. If she has a problem with me, then she can say it to my face._

* * *

**Sometime Later**

"It looks like the Alliance owes you another medal Shepard."

"Just doing my job Captain."

"I'll forward your report on what happened to Alliance Command. And I'll be sure to mention this to Admiral Lundvall too. The Sixth Fleet's flotillas should have been patrolling that region. The fact that Batarians got so close to destroying that colony...I don't even want to think about it. Again, you did good work. I'll talk to you later Shepard."

"Captain," she responded saluting. The holo-projector powered down and the orange hologram of Captain Anderson fizzled out.

"Shepard."

She spun around to face the doorway of the conference room.

"How long have you been there?" she demanded from him with venom in her voice.

"Literally just walked in," he lied taking several more steps into the room.

Shepard folded her arms in response. "What do you want? Or did you just come by hoping you'd overhear something you can take back to your boss?"

"I'm here because I wanted to talk," he now replied tense.

"I don't have time to play twenty questions with you," she snapped, beginning to make for the doorway before he purposefully stepped in her way.

"Really? Because it seems you have time to do that with everyone-else."

She felt a scowl come across her face. "If you don't get out of my way-"

"What? You'll kill me? Like you did that Batarian?"

_What? Was he really still on that?_

She leaned back again, deriding him. "I didn't realize you were such an _alien lover_ Shield-"

"You would have killed those people Shepard!"

His comment jarred her. She found herself standing where she was in shock.

"...what did you just say?"

"I heard everything Balak said. You would have let Kate and all the other hostages die just to get your petty revenge!"

_Did he just call me PETTY?!_

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you," she now snarled through her teeth, as she tested her own resolve. "Those terrorists were going to kill millions on Terra Nova. You think we should have just let them walk after what they tried? You don't think that they would have tried this again? That someone would be lucky enough to stop them twice?!"

"What you _think_ doesn't matter. He could have tried it again. Or he might have learned his lesson. We don't know. What _I_ know is that if Tali hadn't defused that bomb, all those people would be dead right now!"

"Don't attempt to lecture _me_. You know NOTHING about what you're talking about!" She stared Shield down. "Ka'hairal Balak was a Batarian terrorist at the top of the Alliance's most wanted list. He's the one who orchestrated the Massacre at Ferris Fields and the hundreds of Humans left dead in its wake. He's responsible for destroying dozens of Alliance merchant ships. And you wanted me to let that monster go free?" Shield's face of self-righteousness disappeared. He'd obviously never heard of the Batarian. "That's what I thought." She knocked him aside and continued toward the door.

"You know what that Batarian would have done in your place?"

She froze.

_He wouldn't dare..._

"He would've let those people die without a second thought too."

Her temper flared. She wasn't aware of what she had done before the man had already flown several feet away shimmering violet. But that piece of shit had just compared her to one of THEM. SHIELD of all people.

"Don't you DARE ever compare me to one of THEM-"

"Why not!" he said popping back up. "What makes you so different!?"

"_I_ don't murder innocent people-"

"-Really!? Then what was that back on X57?"

She felt her face contort, her fists clench, her nostrils flare. But then she stopped herself, took a deep breath, and then forced herself to take a step back.

"...I don't need to defend my actions against someone like _you_. We're done here."

She was halfway out the door before he spoke up again.

"Shepard! You could have just left me on the Presidium if you didn't want me to tag along. Why the hell am I on this ship if you don't want me here?! Tell me Shepard, why am I currently aboard this vessel?"

"Because Anderson said so!" she shouted back in his direction. "I wanted to leave you there. I argued we don't need second-rate spies like you on this ship. But he disagreed. Said that you'd be a valuable asset to have." She paused. "I've yet to hear one valuable thing come out of that mouth!" He avoided her eyes now, pointedly staring at the walls of the conference room instead. "My hands are tied. But if you wanted to leave out of your own prerogative, you can go right ahead next time we make port. I can tell you right now...you wouldn't be missed."

"What the hell's your problem?" He thrust a finger in her direction. "Please tell me what the hell I do that angers you so much! I'll be sure to work on it."

The mocking tone he took at the end of the sentence just served to poke the bear further.

"My _problem_ is that you haven't told the truth since we found you cowering behind those crates on Eden Prime! You lied about who you were. You lied about what you were doing there, and you continue to lie to us even now! You can't be trusted!"

"What? Are you still mad about that? Okay, yeah, I'm sorry about pretending to be a detective alright. It was a mistake. But I thought we already moved past that. What else have I lied to you about since then?"

She felt veins pop out on her forehead as she heard his reply. He talked like a child. An ignorant, impudent child. It truly infuriated her. But she was better than that. She wasn't going to waste such energy on the likes of him. "Back on the Citadel, after you talked to Kahoku. I asked you if the Shadow Broker wanted anything from us in return for protecting the Admiral. You just told me you took care of it. When I asked Ashley about it later, she said you gave him information on someone named Kai who was a part of Cerberus. That organization you mentioned outside of Udina's office. You lied to us about not knowing more about them. And if you actually worked for the Broker, why did you withhold that information originally from him in the first place? Why would you have to bargain for Kahoku's safety if he was your employer? Please tell me because I'm beginning to think you don't work for him at all."

* * *

_Oh shit. Where the...oh shit. What do I...oh shit._

Luckily my face didn't betray the current shock coursing through my brain.

_Did I really make that many mistakes? How many other holes has she already found in my story? How the hell did she even find all that out? How-Answer first, questions later._

I replied with the straightest face I could manage.

"In that order? Well, first thing. I'm going to go ahead and agree with what Anderson said. I am_ very_ valuable, that's a fact. I know a very many things." She obviously disagreed. "Look, I didn't mention anything else about Cerberus because I didn't think it mattered. Did you really want me to tell you about their entire history when it was irrelevant at the time?"

"You'd just revealed they were spying on us, trying to learn what happened on Eden Prime! Of course I did!"

_Oh._

"Well...I was a little more focused on us exposing Saren. So alright, my bad."

She paused a moment before asking her next question. "So you're telling me you don't know anything else about them? That you didn't also know about their operations on Binthu?"

_What?_

"Woah...Shepard. Backtrack. When did you learn that?"

"So you did!" Her hand started glowing a menacing violet.

"No! No I didn't!" I lied. "I was just surprised that you would know where the hell Cerberus were hiding. Where did you get that information?"

"Admiral Kahoku. He contacted us right after we left the Grissom system. He-"

_I missed him?! Dammit. Dammit-Dammit-Dammit-Dammit!_

I had already warned the guy though, and I gave him the Shadow Broker's protection. Kahoku would be fine. He had to be fine. I had to trust that he would be. And then I noticed that Shepard had already finished talking. And she still looked as angry as ever.

_Oh crap, what was she saying? Daaaaaaammiiiiiiiii-_

"So..." I began. "...as for the information on Kai Leng..."

Shepard stood there, arms crossed, glaring at me.

_She's not stopping you, just keep talking. She doesn't know you ignored everything she just said. Power through it. You can do this..._

"Uh...you learn quickly in the organization that you should always keep some information to yourself. Use it when you have nothing to report to the Broker or...keep it for a rainy day when you need a favor. That piece of info was the latter."

"Okay. So who the hell is this Kai Leng?"

"Uh..."

_Dammit. I'm giving this stuff out like candy. I need to save this information for when I need it. I can't...this is one of those times when you would need it dummy. In fact, valuable. I'm valuable. Or my information is. I need to, in fact, dish this more often, not less._

"He's a N7 operative. Former operative. In fact-"

_Wait. Did Anderson meet him yet?...uh, let's not risk it._

"-he was expelled from the Alliance shortly after he graduated for conduct unbecoming."

"Conduct unbecoming? What exactly did he do?" she asked obviously feigning interest.

"Killed a Krogan in a bar. I think. Apparently, murdering innocent civilians is frowned upon in the Alliance."

She scowled at my remark. "So how'd he end up with Cerberus?"

"Apparently the dude was always a tad racist-"

_Or was it speciest?_

"-So Cerberus thought he'd be a good draft pick and busted him out of the jail he was put in. I'm guessing when he found out there was a rogue, morally bankrupt, human-centric terrorist organization who wanted him, the guy was ecstatic. Finally had a place to call home. I think he's been one of their top enforcers ever since. But enough about him."

_Because I don't really have much more on the guy. Not this early in the game._

Then I asked, "So...is that all Shepard? Anything else I can do to prove to you we're on the same side-"

_Oh. Wa-_

"-it. If I really was the bad guy you're making me out to be...don't you think I would have shown my true colors by now. Do you remember what happened? Back on Therum? I could have let you go back then. If I was really working against you guys, do you think that I wouldn't have saved your LIFE that day?!" That comment certainly got her. The look of chagrin on her face...in fact, she almost seemed hurt. But that couldn't be it. It was definitely something else.

"If you had, it's not like you would've gotten away with it. The entire garage was watching you."

"Oh my god Shepard, what do you want from me?!"

"How 'bout the truth!?" she shouted back.

"Truth?! I've been keeping it as real as I can up to this point!"

"Really? Because you still haven't even given us a real name. Don't you try to fucking tell me it's really Marauder Shield."

_Hm. Fair enough._

"Ok. Yeah. True...I thought it might've been clear to you that it was just my...code name. One passed down by my predecessor. One I'm definitely not worthy of using." I stopped a grin from creeping across a face. "A name I'm certainly still trying to live up to."

"Okay then. So, tell me...what's your real name?"

_Dilemma. What do I tell her? Another fake name? I would just be digging myself further down and down if she found out. Uh...oh god. I guess I should just-_

"To tell you the truth...I have no idea. The only thing I remember is working for the Broker." Her face grew grave again. Obviously not the answer she wanted to hear. I spit out the rest of my premeditated back story I hadn't gotten the chance to tell before. "I was raised by them as a child alright? They just called me...kid. For the longest time. Until I was given the call sign Shield, I didn't have an identity. I was whoever they told me to be."

"Really? So where you come from, who your parents were, what-"

"Don't remember any of it. Zip. Nada. Nuevo."

_Nuevo means nine._

"Look, that's really all I can tell you about myself Shepard."

We definitely still weren't seeing eye to eye but her rage definitely somewhat subsided hearing that. We stood there awkwardly for several seconds before Shepard spoke up. "So...have anything else you want to mention?"

"...like what?"

"You just said you knew more about Cerberus. You ever come across any information that might help us deal with whatever operations they have going on? Aware of anything related to their operation on Binthu?"

_Did I?_

"Uh, planning on paying them a visit sometime soon?"

"Yes," she replied clearly displeased.

She seemed strained in just telling me. "Uhhhh, let me think...oh. Yyyyyes. I have heard through the grape vine that Cerberus has been getting into some creepy shit recently. Doing...tests on weird alien creatures and stuff. We've tracked some...sketchy xenobiologists shipping to somewhere in that region actually. Might indicate what we're up against."

_Was that too much?_

Whatever the case, the information seemed to satisfy Shepard. "Oh, great. Real helpful. Good talk," she remarked with scathing sarcasm.

"Hey, you know this is a two way street." I almost regretted opening my mouth. I could have just let her continue to walk out the door. Stupid mouth.

"What the hell are you talking about."

"I just gave you a little something about myself. I think it's only fair that you share something too."

"I don't think so."

"C'mon...not even a name?"

I honestly don't know why I asked. But I realized rarely anyone ever referred to her by it. Actually, no one referred to her by it. Not Kaidan. Not Anderson. Not nobody.

_Was it because of...the game mechanics? The game's diaLOGUE!? COULD IT REALLY BE DICTATING WHAT STILL HAPPENS!? IS THAT WHY HER FIRST NAME-_

"You know what my name is."

_Ooooh. So that's how it's gon' to be._

"You know what I meant."

"I did. And to you, it's _Commander_ Shepard."

"Oh come on. It's not like it's a secret...is it?" I widened my eyes in anticipation of her answer.

"No. But we're not friends. You haven't earned the privilege to use it. And I can safely say you never will."

And with that, she walked out the door.

_Ow. My feelings._

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Alliance Correspondence**

Intercept 13:45/ Secure Comm Buoy #8973 / Encrypted / #3687 - FU - 291

Sender: Admiral Johanna Lundvall, Arcturus Station

Captain Anderson:

Your report is disturbing to say the least. Batarian slaving runs are nothing new but the scale of what they tried to do this time- I mean attempting to destroy Terra Nova- is simply intolerable. And you know those bastards in the Hegemony put them up to this. Something of this scale isn't just done by regular slavers at the drop of a hat. We can only thank whatever higher power there is out here that Commander Shepard had been close enough in the area to stop them.

Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call to those kleptocrats in the chamber that something needs to be done about the Batarians. The way they've been tiptoeing around the subject for the last decade has been borderline treason. It's like after the Theshaca Raids, they want to pretend the slavers no longer even exist. Which brings me to why you sent me this report in the first place. I'm sure you've already sent what happened on X57 to Shastri's Chiefs of Staff, but I'm not quite sure why you've decided to include me in the loop. It's almost like you're insinuating I have something to do with this. As if what happened there was a fault of the Sixth fleet.

And I'll tell you what I'll tell the board _Captain_. The Sixth Fleet has been kept as a reserve power of the Alliance Navy since its founding. I've personally sent multiple petitions time and time again to establish us as a permanent patrol fleet in Exodus or Argus Rho, and every single time, they've been dismissed. I understand the whole precedent of "She who tries to defend everything defends nothing," but if my fleet was actually stationed off the Exodus Relay, my patrols would have most certainly caught the terrorist Ka'hairal Balak before he even entered Terra Nova's system. I'm confident to say as well that if we had been stationed in the cluster, we could have even prevented what happened on Eden Prime.

We have four scout flotillas assigned to patrol Terra Nova's space. That's not even close to the number needed to cover a planet's orbit, let alone the whole damn territory, so don't you dare point your finger at me or my men for those pencil pusher's shortsightedness. In all honesty, I'm glad I'll be able to point this out to them, hopefully it'll give them enough reason to pull their heads out from where the sun don't shine and address the problem. In any case, send my regards to the Commander for a job well done. She's one of the few officers left in the Alliance that gives it any sort of credibility.

With all due respect,

Admiral Lundvall

Commanding Officer of the Sixth Fleet

Arcturus Station

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So after looking it up, I've actually come to find out that Nuevo means neither none or nine in spanish, just new. Hope that _nuevo_ information filled your quota for Fun Fact Friday (if you happen to read this when it came out). I type the dialogue as I go along, I certainly don't plan this ish. So keep an eye out for those mistakes in Shield's random thoughts or conversations. OH and please, if you happen notice an embarassung typi, think you could send me a PM of its location? It's shameful for me to ask, I know, butt I'd really appreciate the help in catching the few that slip through the cracks. I go through some chapters and when I see them, it's like ugh, I'm sorry you guys had to endure that. But in any case~**

**Review Responses:**

**Gen. Zaroff: Sorry bout the cliff hanger man but I do love me some cliches. Hope this chapter sated you. And thanks for the encouragement, I'll be sure to keep the work up to the best my ability allows! :V**

**NightFury: Trust me, the next chapter did sound good! Originally.**

**And a shout out to NathanHale2 too for reviewing this chapter before it came out. His thoughtful analyses definitely helped in finding what elements it was still missing. Be sure to thank him for his work and the chore of dealing with me.**

**In the Next Chapter: Beware the fury of a patient man.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	21. Blunder on Binthu

Hm. So here I was, just silently laying in my bed, staring at the ceiling of the bunk room. I didn't need to look at my omni-tool to tell me that I had been in this position for at least half an hour. I had woken from a dream. Not the recurring nightmare of the Prothean vision-

_Thank god._

-but one that still gave me pause when it had finally ended.

From what little I could remember of the dream, I had been walking around in an aquarium, looking at dolphins and shit. Real cool stuff. I remember last passing a tank full of lion fish when all of a sudden I see Kanye. Yeah, THAT Kanye. He was standing in front of a starfish tank, tapping on its glass, obviously entranced by the fact that they reminded him of himself. Then, noticing me, he turned around and said "Who do you think you are?! You staring at a muthafuckin' legend!" Immediately after that, I think we left and proceeded to hit up every casino that ever existed in Vegas, dealing cards and smoking cigars, drinking champagne, and participating in other amounts of gross debauchery...you know...gambling things. Then I woke up right at the best part, just when we had just won five million dollars at craps. He was picking me up in his arms, telling me how much he appreciated my attention and then...dream over. Upon waking though, the single most significant thought I've had since Eden Prime crossed my mind.

Since the time I first figured out how to use it, I've gathered about thirty songs I liked from what little of the extranet I could access. Most of the tunes were from the eighties and nineties, not that I was complaining, but I realized something from my dream adventure with that lyrical genius. They were all songs, REAL songs, from the eighties and nineties. As in, the 20th century of the real world actually occurred in this universe. And this was the thought I had been mulling over and over in my head.

_If the music of the 20__th__ century actually exists, then that means that...Roosevelt-World War II-Cold War-Reds and Blue-_

_Richard Nixon-Wood Stock-even Princess Di._

_Bush Senior-Gulf War-Forrest Gump-O.J. roar-_

_Lewinsky-Hillary-and all that other history!__...must exist too._

And while I really needed to get the tune of _We Didn't Start The Fire_ out of my head, the possibilities behind this revelation were endless.

I still needed to find out whether the first tenth of the 21st century occurred or not too, but if it had, that would mean that even I could exist in this timeline as well. Or existed in this case. It could even mean that this might not be an alternate dimension or all some weird ass dream-

_well... it could always be That._

-but could actually be the future of the EARTH...MY future.

_I could look for where I lived, the name of my school, pictures of my family, anything that could point to who I am, my identity. Maybe even how I ended here. And I could maybe even find stuff on the extranet that told me what happened in the future-my future. The President of 2016. When the cure to cancer was found and how. Watch Avengers Two._

I spent the next good part of my morning poring over the extranet for all this. And a good part of the 'afternoon' too. And after hours and hours of all this grueling sleuthing, I found that my work only resulted in learning about a few international affairs mentioned in the 2060's-90's and some political speeches from the era. I didn't know if it was my search engine technique or if the problem was the extranet itself, but so far the internet of the future had been extremely disappointing. So after failing to find anything of significance, I finally decided to give up and get off my bed to grab some food. In fact, I had only gotten out of the bed once before, earlier in the morning, and only then to hit the john. I had forgotten to get breakfast in all the excitement, and by this point in the day my stomach was practically tearing itself apart.

I quickly hopped down from my bed and exited the bunk room, grabbing a ration pack, plate, and some utensils off the nearest mess hall counter. I then continued over to the cafeteria table, where I found, to my pleasant surprise, Kaidan and Ashley already sitting.

"What's up," I said taking a seat next to Kaidan.

"Hey," he replied briefly in my direction before turning back to Ashley, who was in the middle of a story. Or what I thought to be one.

"Look, if you're fighting a bear, and the only way for you to survive is to sic your dog on it and run, you'll do it. Because as much as you love your dog, it isn't Human."

A groan escaped from my mouth, albeit unintentionally I tell you. But nonetheless, one could plainly see on her face that she didn't quite appreciate the sound. So I decided to just own up to it. "Well, uh, I don't know about you Ashley, but I certainly wouldn't let my poor dog get mauled for me. That's kinda awful. I mean, would you Kaidan?" I asked now looking back to my right.

Kaidan stared at his plate, quietly scooping a spoonful of what I thought were mashed potatoes into his mouth. The dude knew better than to get himself re-involved in the discussion now that he had someone else to take his place.

"It's just a fact that members of their own species will always be more important to them," she continued.

"I mean I guess there's some truth in that," I conceded to her. "That doesn't mean that we can't make nice or be friends with them."

"I'm not saying that we can't play nice. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be surprised if one of these Krogans we run in to convinces Wrex to join them. We have to be aware that we're not always going to be fighting on the same team. Right Kai?" she asked her original debate partner.

He suddenly stood up from where he was sitting. "Uh, I'll be right back. Just going to grab some more food."

"What? You're going for thirds?" she scoffed.

"Oh, I didn't realize we're rationing food already," he joked.

"I'm not saying you can't," she said defensively. "I'm just surprised you even can."

I was inclined to agree. The ration pack I had emptied onto the plate in front of me contained about 1500 calories worth of food. Or that's what was printed on the package at least. I had a hard time imagining as it was basically a bag of mashed potatoes, some sealed mystery meat, and vacuumed veggies. It didn't exactly seem like the smorgasbord the plastic package reported. But if it really was that many calories, the dude was eating a day's worth of meals in one sitting.

"Hey, biotics tend to take a lot out of you. Most guys I know on active duty need to eat twice the amount of a regular marine. One of the pitfalls for being able to manipulate gravity I guess," he said standing. That gave me pause.

_Dear god. 9000 calories? What does that even look like?_

"Really?" Ashley asked astonished.

"Yup," Kaidan replied walking away to get his food. "Can't believe you never heard that before-"

"If Shepard and him eat that much on a regular day, I can't imagine how we've been feeding Wrex," she said looking at her food.

That line certainly stunned me.

_Oh my god, yeah. How much do Krogan need to eat? A biotic one no less?_

I resolved to search that later on the extranet. Krogan biology...and other biology for that matter.

_Oh snap, I could look up stuff on every alien race! What the heck!? How have I never thought of this before! Pictures of the Hanar homeworld, Elcor babies, see what Volus really look like. I'm sure there'd be pictures out there. Oh, Quarians too! The anatomies of every race! Organs, body parts..._

My mind trailed off. My attention was only brought back to my current company as something sat itself down in front of me with a heavy CLUNK.

"I've been wondering that myself," Wrex chuckled, apparently having eavesdropped on our conversation. How much of it I didn't know. But I was hoping just the last part. This would soon grow awkward otherwise. Kaidan copied his motion seconds after, sitting back down with a new tray of food.

"How you doing Wrex?" I asked.

"Well enough," he replied, already shoving three packets worth of food into his mouth. The sight of him devouring the meals was aweing.

"Feel free to get more," Kaidan told him. "We accounted for you when we were making requisitions and resupplying back on the Citadel."

"Was planning to," the Krogan retorted. We all sat there eating in silence for what was probably several minutes before Wrex spoke up again. "I have to say, I've never worked with Humans before. Seeing how you run things so far has been...interesting."

"Oh?" Ashley responded.

"The crew of the ship is surprisingly disciplined. Something the Asari and Salarians tend to lack. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought this a Turian ship."

"Well, the ship _was_ technically built by Turians...Not that that's responsible for what you're talking about," I stumbled after.

"What? Bull," Ashley exclaimed with blatant disbelief.

"That's true actually. Human _and_ Turian engineers worked together to make the Normandy. You can find a lot of innovations from both throughout the ship," Kaidan said backing me up.

"Interesting," Wrex commented. "I didn't think your races would be able to stand in the same room let alone be willing to work with one another. Not after what happened with the 314 incident."

Ashley grew grave at the mentioning of the War adjacent to him. Definitely a sore topic for every Williams I'm sure.

"It's history both our races have tried to put behind us," Kaidan replied.

"History?" the Krogan seemed to laugh. "You Humans have only been on the scene for a couple decades. I know Asari that have been plumbing longer than you're species have had FTL drives. Hell, it wasn't even that long ago when I first heard about you." The Krogan closed his eyes reminiscing. "I remember it clearly. I was in a dirty bar, tossing a Vorcha across the room when the report came on. A new race that had supposedly given the Turian's an ass whooping they haven't felt since the Rebellions." He reopened his eyes. "I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when I first saw your race in the contact vids."

"Oh? And why is that?" Kaidan asked.

"I imagined you would all be a bit...bigger."

"Haha, I honestly wouldn't complain if we were," I retorted. "Could you imagine a Krogan-sized Human?"

"It'd certainly make fighting the Geth a lot easier," Ashley piped back in.

"Speaking of fighting Williams...it's been interesting killing alongside you and Shepard," Wrex said.

"Me and...Shepard? Why?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow perplexed.

"Fighting with women that is...I find it gives battle a different...'flavor'."

"Krogan Women don't fight?" she asked genuinely surprised.

"Oh they definitely do. You ever heard of the Warlord Shiagur? They're as talented warriors as us males. Most Krogan women nowadays though tend to just stay on Tuchanka. Focus on breeding." His reptilian face darkened at the mention of it.

Ashley didn't notice the mood shift. "A lot of Human women tend to do that too. Stay-at-home moms and all that. Not really for me."

"Oh?" Kaidan said leaving Wrex to himself. "You don't plan on settling down, maybe having some kids Williams?"

"My dad was on duty a lot. It mostly fell to me and my mom to take care of my sisters. So I think I've had my fill of that for now. Currently, I'm serving on one of the most advanced warships in the Alliance Fleet. My careers really starting to look up. And I love what I do. I'm not planning on quitting any time soon."

"So in the future then, once you're done serving in the Alliance military."

"Uh maybe...if I'm ever done. My great grandmother, grandfather, and dad all had long careers, and I plan on following in their footsteps. So I guess it's more of a matter how my career ends, rather than when."

"How bout you?" I said quickly turning to Kaidan. "Any kids on the horizon for you?"

"I guess it's the same for me," he replied. "I'll probably settle down once I'm too old to lift someone off the ground with my L2s."

Wrex cleaned off the last portion of food on his tray. "Well I'm done here. Williams. Alenko. Shield."

"See ya," we all replied as he got up and left. I kind of felt like an asshole, encouraging all the talk about having children. I realized a little too late that it probably wasn't easy for him to hear all this. We all had the possibility to if we wanted...he didn't. Not yet anyway.

"So what about you Shield?" I jerked my head up in surprise to Kaidan's question. "Any plans of your own?"

"Uh...you know, I've never really thought about it," I replied rubbing my neck. "I guess it's always something I imagined would happen down the road if I ever met the right person but...I imagine a family's still a long ways off."

"Where'd you grow up?" Ashley suddenly asked. The question was a little off-kilter but...

_Telling the truth couldn't hurt...could it?_

"The United States," I replied, realizing I didn't even remember in what state.

"Really? I grew up in the UNAS too!" Kaidan said surprised. "Edmonton, Alberta."

_aHA, he was Canadian! _

We both turned to Ash and after some nudging, she conceded to sharing too. "I was born in a small colony you both wouldn't have heard of. I moved around a lot though, we never stayed in one place for too long."

"Because of your father?" I asked.

"Bingo. Used to grab any posts he could, which meant we had to travel a lot to keep relatively close." Then she grabbed her tray and slowly got up. "Well...I think I have a couple more rifles to clean down in the garage. And they don't clean themselves...not yet anyway. So I'll catch you guys later."

"I should probably get going too," Kaidan said copying her. "Got to prepare for the staff meeting tomorrow morning. Shepard wants me to-oh Shield," he said getting my attention. "Would you mind if Emerson took your spot on the next mission? He's been asking to rejoin the ground team for a while now and I told him I would see what I could do."

"Oh," I said gawking at the request. "I mean, you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine with whatever you or Shepard want to do. I don't mind."

"Alright, thanks for understanding," he replied. "I think Shepard was planning on taking T'Soni to get the squad back to eight members too. You think you could let her know for me? Need her to be ready once we're close planet side."

"Yeah, sure," I nervously responded. I think she was the one member of the Normandy crew I haven't talked to since I've got on (besides a few of the deck officers). But I hadn't talked to them only because they had the 'night' shift. "What planet are we currently heading for again?"

_Feros? Noveria? Bi-_

"Binthu. Shepard was planning to follow up on Kahoku's lead before it goes dry."

"Ah, well...if I don't see you all before you drop, good luck."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to pass that on to the Commander," Kaidan replied before walking away from the table.

_Binthu..._

* * *

**Ten. Minutes. Later.**

"Oh, Shield, it is nice of you to drop by. How are you?" Liara put down the data pad she had been reading and got up to greet me.

"Uh, good...how bout you?"

"Thank you for your concern. I am doing well...though I still find adjusting to life aboard the Normandy difficult. I have not been around so many other people in such a long time. And I see the way most of the crew looks at me. I can tell they do not trust me." She sounded pretty bummed saying it.

"Well I'm glad to say I'm not one of them," I replied trying to comfort her. "I'm sure they just need time to get to know you."

"Thank you. And you are probably right. Still...I find that the solitude Therum brought is the one aspect of the planet I miss the most. Sometimes, I just find myself needing time away from other people. I don't get time by myself very often anymore."

_Woah...is she...she isn't telling me to fuck off is she? Dang Liara, I didn't realize-_

Then she went wide-eyed like she had just seen a Reaper behind me. "Oh, I, uh, I didn't mean to insinuate that-Uh, not that I don't want to talk with you but I-oh goddess, forget I said anything."

_Ohhhh, right. No, she's just socially awkward._

"Oh, uh, it's fine," I replied back, scratching my neck.

"Now you can see why I prefer to spend time alone. I always seem to say something embarrassing around other people."

"No really, no offense taken."

"No, I'm sorry. I've been monopolizing the conversation-"

_We really haven't been talking long enough for this to be considered a conversation..._

"-and I'm getting the feeling you came in to ask me something."

"Huh? Oh...right..."

_Damn that's right...what was it again? Kaidan asked me to...oh come on, he told you like five minutes ago!_

"Shield?"

"Oh, sorry, I just remembered. Alenko told me to tell you that he wanted me to tell you that Shepard wanted you to be on the ground team."

"...I'm sorry. I'm not quite sure I understa-"

"He asked if you'd be ready to go ground side once we arrive on Binthu."

Her face immediately lit up. "We're headed for Binthu? The planet found in the Yangtze system of the Voyager Cluster?"

"Uh...I think?"

"That's fantastic!" she exclaimed beaming. "I always wanted to visit the ruins there! But I could never get a permit of authorization to visit from the corporation that owned it!"

"There's Prothean ruins there?" I asked surprised.

"That's what some of the artifacts we unearthed on Dretirop indicated. After we published a paper on it, the Council actually sent an archaeology team to investigate...although they didn't find anything that would indicate the Protheans had ever been to the planet. But now I actually have the chance to look for them myself! Who would have imagined!"

"Uh...I'm not sure if you'll have time to look for Prothean ruins while we're there," I broke to her. "You'll probably be too busy getting shot at."

"Oh...of course," she said flustered. "Though just the opportunity to visit the planet itself is exciting," she continued, turning around to her desk. "Perhaps if I ask Shepard, she'll spare some time to examine the area!"

_Fat chance._

"There's so much to be done if we're to find anything!" She started picking up various data pads scattered on her desk in a panic.

"Uh, alright Doc," I said already beginning to back out of the room. She seemed too enthralled with her current fantasy to pay me any more attention. "Nice, uh, talking with ya."

"Oh, of course, you too!" she said quickly turning back toward me from her desk. "Thank you for coming to tell me!"

"No problem," I replied before quickly turning around and speeding out the door.

* * *

**Elsewhere on the Normandy...**

The computer screen illuminated the room, lessening the darkness around her, though her face stayed mere inches away from it as she read Eluam's message again.

_See you soon._

An four-eyed emoticon appeared right below the message. Winking at her.

Her head was suddenly blasted with a deafening scream.

She shut her eyes when the sound assaulted her ears, the screeching sounding like two bulkheads grinding against one another. Immediately after she shut her eyes, metals, odd shapes, images, aliens, scenes, worlds flitted by one after another. The incoherent tumult of long forgotten peoples accompanied them. The chaotic nature of the message pervaded her brain, snaked through every thought. The sounds and images slithering through her head were too much, and she suddenly found herself yelling in pain only to find no sound leaving her mouth. Her mind felt like it was ripping itself apart.

Shepard's let out a gasp as she shot her eyes open. Alarmed, she then got up from where she was laying. The console at her door cast a small ray of orange light across the room. The room was dark but she could still make out the outlines of her work desk and breakfast table before her. She was still definitely her in bedroom on the Normandy. She leaned over to her night stand and flicked on a light.

It was the same nightmare she had several nights ago and the several nights before that. The nightmare she had seen countless times in her sleep since she came into contact with the beacon on Eden Prime. She always tried to make sense of it upon waking, tried to find what information the vision could possibly be hiding among the nightmarish images that accompanied it. But her attempts always failed.

She wiped an arm against her forehead before checking the clock next to her. The Normandy's weekly staff meeting started in about twenty minutes. She grumbled as she picked her uniform up off the floor and slid it on. No matter how much she thought about it, the vision was as incoherent as ever.

She grabbed a breakfast pack from the mess hall's cart on her way up to the conference room. Upon arrival, she found Adams, Pressly, Chakwas and Kaidan already seated and waiting for her. Shepard took a deep breath before joining them in the room and begin to make herself comfortable. She'd be there for at least an hour, might as well settle in. Mere moments after she took her seat, Officer Fantum came stumbling into the room, apologizing for his tardiness. With his entrance, they could finally begin. She inhaled deeply again before getting back up.

"This Staff Meeting is called to order at 8:07:42 by the Normandy's Commanding Officer Shepard. Executive Officer Pressly, Chief Engineer Adams, Chief Medical Officer Chakwas, Specialist Fantum, and Marine Detail Commander Alenko are all in attendance. XO Pressly, you have the floor."

"Thank you Commander," the balding man said getting up as she sat herself down. "Officer Moreau just relayed to me this morning that we jumped through the Hades-Voyager relay sometime last night. In terms of light hours away, we entered the double digits a few hours ago. By my estimates, and according to our current course, we should arrive in the Yangtze system within the day. Probably sometime before the second rotations have their third meal."

"Alenko, has everyone on the team been briefed yet?"

"Yes Commander," he replied from across the room. "I've informed the Vanguard class Wrex that he'll be leading the strike team into the compounds. He seemed thrilled to hear it. The Infiltrator class Garrus has been briefed on his over watch role for the mission, and Engineer class Tali is aware of what she has to do as well. Soldier class Williams is currently prepping Soldier class Emerson in the garage for their support roles as suppressive fire specialists for the biotics, and I plan on consulting Adept class Liara before we depart on the exact level of her biotic ability, so we're better aware of her skill set's extent."

Every Alliance marine were given these class designations after AIT. They didn't hold any significance in regards to rank but were useful when individuals were taken from their marine division for a special op. Helped the squad leader assign roles best suited to their abilities. Alenko's evaluation of each alien's abilities seemed spot on.

"Any medical concerns I should be aware of Doctor Chakwas?" Shepard added. They both knew she was asking about Emerson. He had bounced back from his injury on Therum only after a few days but reportedly had found some stiffness in his arm. The Doctor had been giving him physical exercises to help, and Emerson claimed it wouldn't interfere with his performance but...

"None that I can think of Commander," the medic replied. "Everyone seems to be in top shape."

"Good."

"Commander, when we refueled at the station orbiting the H-V relay, I was able to get some new gear. You might want to check it out before we reach planet side."

"Noted Fantum," she replied. She was still bitter about the fact that the Normandy hadn't been assigned a proper quarter master.

_What kind of CO has to PAY their requisitions officer for their weapons? _

It was ridiculous.

"About our travel time-" Adams cut in.

_And here we go._

"-Joker and I were discussing whether we should activate the Normandy's stealth systems before entering Binthu's orbit. It might be an unnecessary precaution and affect our schedule but if this organization Cerberus has any foresight..."

She let out a faint sigh as the meeting truly began.

* * *

**Hours Later.**

Hours later, and Pressly's estimations had been proven to be correct. They were able to land planet side undetected around 17:25:00 Earth time. Before drop-off, Serviceman Gladstone reported that the Normandy's orbital scans detected three structures in the general vicinity of the latitude and longitude coordinates Kahoku had sent to them. Each of them unregistered on the planet's list of operating facilities. Which meant that the intel the Admiral had received had been accurate.

The defense turrets affixed to the top of the first compound reaffirmed this as it shot at them. Cerberus certainly seemed keen on keeping others out, and that their whereabouts stayed secret. But that would soon change. Once the Mako's accelerator cannon had made short work of their defenses, Shepard ordered her team out of the vehicle. And once they entered the compound, they would have to work fast, as the other bases would most likely be alerted to their presence. In this event, she had given Joker orders shoot to kill for any ship attempting to leave the surface.

"Alright team, you know the drill. Wrex, you have point. Ashley, you're covering our backs." The two nodded in the affirmative as they took their positions. "These aren't your ordinary mercs or pirates folks, they're trained commandos that decided to split from the Alliance. I think it's about time we gave them their severance package. Move out."

She nodded to Wrex to begin their assault.

As soon as they entered the compound, she pegged it as the standard subterranean Traverse research bunker. A long passage led them down to a sparse antechamber, void of anything notable. As she motioned to take their positions in the room, Shepard took a wild guess that the only other door in the room most likely connected to the main chamber of the place, where the rogue black-ops group was most likely digging themselves in for a fight.

She found that she was right. As soon as the door slid open, and Wrex charged headfirst into the room, the Krogan immediately became inundated with weapons fire. The Cerberus operatives shooting at him were crouching in front of a large force field that seemed to occupy most of the room. Deciding to focus her efforts solely on the enemies ahead, Shepard jumped out from behind Wrex, dropping a singularity on top of the hit squad before them. The commandos suddenly found themselves floating helplessly in the air, no longer a match for the Krogan who took advantage of the situation, pumping shotgun rounds into each.

As she ended the singularity and the bodies dropped to the floor, Shepard motioned for Wrex to stay where he was. She then saddled up against the left support column of the force field and peeked around its corner. To her chagrin, she found that Cerberus had dug in well. They had apparently taken every crate and piece of equipment in the room and constructed a giant makeshift barricade out of them. They had fortified their half of the room, essentially turning the room's corridor into a shooting gallery.

"There they are! Hold the line!"

She pulled her head back as bullets started pelting her barrier.

_Shit!_

Her HUD flashed purple as her barrier was taken to half strength. Whirling back around to the small 'beach head' they had established in the room, she was appalled to find most of her team just standing in front of the force field, gawking at the room's center piece.

"What the hell are you all staring at?"

"Commander, do you see these things?!" Emerson said in her direction shocked.

"Wha...are those...spiders?" Tali stuttered, seemingly shuddering now.

"You guys can stare at animals as long as you want back on the Citadel!" she shouted at them. "Right now we're in the middle of a damn firefight! These bastards are dug in hard and if-"

An idea suddenly gripped her mind, and her feet seemed to move of their own accord to the console placed in front of the plasma curtain. Kaidan looked at her.

"Commander, you're right, we all got distracted." He motioned to Williams and Emerson to take points at each column. "Do we do this the ol' fashioned way?" Liara and Tali still stood in shock at the creatures contained in the cell before them.

"Not quite," she said turning her back to Kaidan and typing some commands into the console.

"Commander! What are-"

At first she thought the screech came from the xenos she had just released. But then she realized the sound was coming from behind her. The Quarian didn't seem to be a fan of her plan.

"They're everywhere! Enemies Everywhere!" one of the Cerberus commandos shouted as the insect-like creatures started to swarm on their position. Gunfire broke back out across the room. Cerberus' barricade only covered the sides of the room not occupied by the force field. By deactivating the force field, she gained a distraction and opening at the same time. Two birds with one stone.

Wrex was the first to come to his senses and grasp what she had just done. "Now THIS is more like it," he grinned before charging into the chaotic fray strewn before him.

"Stop standing around with your thumbs up your asses! Cover him!" she shouted back to the rest of the squad, while simultaneously throwing a warp toward a Cerberus operative running into the open. As they hit the floor, she realized they were wearing a labcoat instead of a hard suit.

_A scientist. We're definitely raiding a research facility. But exactly what the hell are they doing here..._

As gun fire echoed through out the room, she found none of it coming from behind her. Vakarian suddenly ran past her and stopped to take a knee, simultaneously sniping another Cerberus commando through their dark visor, also happening to kill the creature which had attached itself to their face. As her, Wrex, and Garrus moved across the room to mop up whatever was left, her fire team finally snapped back to their senses and joined in the fray, albeit only moments before they finished.

She killed the last Cerberus operative by staggering them with a warp, then placing several shots around the vicinity of their head. Once the commando hit the ground, Shepard approached her and knelt over her body. Whoever hadn't been a scientist wore the same custom issued armor as the commando.

_The shine's tungsten. Interlocking ceramic plates too. That would give them maximum stopping power. And are those...huh. Circuitry at elbows indicate motorized joints._

This was high quality armor. She could tell with just her brief comb over.

_Freelancers definitely couldn't afford this._

Every Cerberus hard suit in the room had matching color schemes of white, black and yellow, and all of them possessed the same insignia too, on their left breastplate and the fore head of their helmets. A hexagon elongated vertically, with two lines shouldering its sides. As she got back up from where she was crouching, the Commander started to get the creeping suspicion that the rogue ops group seemed closer to some kind of cult. Matching hard suits, an organization insignia, with an abnormal secrecy for their work...

"Commander-" Kaidan started. She remembered that there were others in the room.

"Don't 'Commander' me," she turned around snapping at him. "Where the hell was our support?" She made eye contact with the motley band behind him. "I didn't bring you all along to sight see!"

"I'm sorry Shepard," Liara replied to her first, shamefaced. "I didn't mean to get distracted. It just-everything happened so fast, I-"

Though she would never say it to their faces, she understood Liara and Tali's reaction. One was a reclusive researcher and the other just a kid. Their inaction moments ago was permissible albeit dangerous.

Emerson cut the Asari off. "Commander, you and Wrex burst into the room guns blazing, and as soon as we followed you in, we found you already releasing those bugs on these Cerberus guys! I didn't even have time to lift up my rifle!"

"Like hell you didn't!"

What wasn't permissible were the trained soldiers' reactions. Emerson, Williams, and even Kaidan had all stood there slack jawed while the fight raged on. The freakin' Turian gave her better support than they did. She closed her emerald eyes for a moment in a pained expression, then opened them, retraining them on the private. When she was promoted to a field officer, she quickly learned when she had to let things slide with her soldiers and when she had to crack the whip on them. And she classified this moment as one of the latter.

"What just happened was fucking disgraceful. I don't know about all of you, but I don't start staring off into space when there's bullets whizzing over my damn head." She furrowed her brow even harder at Emerson. "I know for a fact _Private _that the Alliance doesn't train its soldiers to stand around like jack asses when they're enemy units around-"

"But Commander-" Emerson started.

"Soldier! Spoke when spoken too!" Williams shouted.

"I don't remember anyone asking you speak either _Williams_."

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!"

"And as for you," she said bringing her glare back to the private. "I don't want to hear you open your mouth again Private. You interrupt me one more time and I'll have you on sanitation duty with Tucks for the remainder of this assignment! UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Yes sir!"

"The dead don't care about your fucking excuses. You make a mistake, and your whole squad pays the price." She now turned to address the rest of them. "We've been lucky so far. Dealing with two-bit slavers, pirates, faulty VI. We haven't actually needed to work as a unit yet. But for enemies who actually know what the fuck they're doing, we obviously need to change that won't we."

The Alliance marines responded with succinct "Yes sir!"

"We can't have squad mates staring at old rocks or fancy technology while we're in the middle of mission am I clear!?" Liara lowered her head again. "If I tell you to lay down suppressing fire, I _expect _you to lay down suppressing fire _Emerson_. If I tell you to cover our rear, I _expect_ you to not ignore orders and cover our rear _Williams_. When I tell you all to jump, I expect you all to ask me how damn HIGH! This is how missions are going to go from on now on! If you all can't handle acting like real soldiers, then you can get the hell off my ship, AM I CLEAR?!"

"Yes Commander!" everyone but Wrex shouted.

"We've wasted enough time here as it is. We're leaving. Move out." The team acknowledged her command and turned back the way they came, beginning their exodus out. Cerberus still had two more compounds on the Binthu.

_...and of all the...Shield was right...hidden laboratories with unknown xenos. What other horrors do these bastards have here?_

In the next hour, her question was answered. The second Cerberus outpost had creatures similar to the ones they found at the first. Large crustacean-like insects, again trapped in a force field. Luckily for her squad, the Cerberus marine detail in the building were much less organized than the first, having set up little to no defenses. She neglected to release the creatures this time around, instead clearing out the room first. And after the Cerberus operatives in the compound were dead, they actually examined the creatures being contained. After some speculation, Liara claimed they were Rachni, which surprised some of the others in the group. She had heard the name but knew little of the history behind it. Given the short version by Wrex, she learned that they had apparently endangered the Galaxy centuries ago and were driven to extinction by the Krogan. Despite the objections of Liara and Kaidan, she opted to keep that bit of history factually accurate.

At the third and final Cerberus outpost though, is when shit hit the proverbial fan. The first antechamber of each previous base had been unoccupied, putting Shepard and her team into a false sense of security as they entered the third. This time though, the rogue marines were waiting, suddenly open firing on them as they began walking down the first hallway. Before she could issue a retreat back out of the complex, and faster than she could blink, Wrex had barreled down it, bulldozing the four commandos. In such close quarters, the Krogan displayed its true ferocity, snapping necks and blasting them to specks. They were no match for him. She took out her shot gun despite this for good measure, blitzing down the hallway to join him.

After fighting their way into the antechamber, Shepard found the room devoid of any other enemies. Looking over the squad one last time before giving a nod to the Krogan, they launched their assault on the final chamber. The Cerberus operatives were quick to give resistance, firing upon the entry way as soon as they opened it. As Shepard and her team bludgeoned their way in though, the contents of the room's containment field caught her eye. Though the humanoid creatures standing in it were certainly horrific, it was rather the body lying in the middle of them all that caught her attention. A body dressed in Alliance uniform. A face unceremoniously gaping at her with blank, dead eyes. A face she recognized as Admiral Kahoku's.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Systems Alliance Advanced Individual Training**

(_Recorded video of Alliance Speaker addressing BCT graduates_)

Becoming an Alliance marine can be one of the most challenging events in your life. I think you all know that. But once your training is complete, you'll all be quick to find it a fairly rewarding one. Serving Humanity and its interests is one of the most noble things a Human can do in this day and age. So far, you all have gone through two of the first three steps of becoming a Systems Alliance marine, a galactic defender of the Human race. You all first stepped in an Alliance recruitment depot, met your recruiter, worked with them face to face to find the track best suited to your talents and abilities. Once you were sworn in, you were brought into Basic Combat Training, working alongside the best and brightest to be trained in the way of modern warfare, becoming the ideal marine the Systems Alliance requires to protect it. Now, you've all arrived at the last leg of your journey, being assigned your class, and gaining the valuable skills your job requires of you in AIT, Advanced Individual Training. Each of you will be assigned a designation, a job that you will carry for the rest of your military career. Some of you will be on the frontlines, fighting the good fight against slavers and pirates who threaten Humanity's colonies in the Traverse. Others will learn how to single-handedly support the efforts of the Systems Alliance through innovation and logistics. Every role though doing its part in keeping the Local Cluster and its colonies safe from the forces that would harm it. Stand up marines. You will now be given your designations. Proceed by row to the registration department to receive your chosen role. Good luck, and Hominum Servitium! Salute!

Attached to file: (_Alliance Class Designations and Evaluations_)

Soldier Class: The most common class assignment in the Systems Alliance, forming the back bone of its military. Alliance soldiers are most renowned for their impressive fire support, flexibility, and speed in the face of their opposition. Since their arrival on the Galactic stage, Humans have quickly integrated the new technology they have come into contact with into their combat gear. It is fairly common to find Alliance marine divisions utilizing VIs, drones, and artillery on the battlefield, being able to respond to a wide variety of combat situations. Those designated with the military vocational code N7 are classified as Destroyer class.

Engineer Class: The most common class assignment usually assigned to those who score relatively high on their AVA (Alliance Vocational Aptitude) test. Alliance engineers occupy a large variety of roles, ranging from ship technicians to front line support specialists. Every one is a tech specialist, trained in manipulating their environment quickly and resourcefully, either by setting up ambushes, providing drone support, or sabotaging enemy equipment with whatever technical equipment available. Those designated with the military vocational code N7 are classified as Demolisher class.

Adept Class: The most common designation for those with biotic abilities that enlist in the Systems Alliance. Through an unique training program, those that enlist who display control over dark energy are taught how to develop their abilities, being equipped with the L3 neural implants if they have not already undergone the procedure. Adepts are a valuable asset on the battlefield, being able to use their abilities for crowd control and squad support. Those designated with the military vocational code N7 are referred to as Fury class.

Attached to file: (_Alliance_ _Cross Class Specializations and Evaluations)_

Infiltrator Class: Those trained through a combination of combat and tech talents. Utilize unique proto-type, short-term stealth field generators to cloak themselves from visual detection. Specialize in dispatching enemies from afar undetected, flanking enemy units from an advantageous position, or causing misdirection. They are often deployed when the Alliance requires discretion, often utilizing subterfuge or sabotage to complete their objectives. Those designated with the military vocational code N7 are classified as Shadow class.

Vanguard Class: Those trained through a combination of combat and biotic talents. Utilize L2 or L3 implants to manifest their abilities. Specialize in combat on the front lines, focusing their biotic powers instead on its potential for offensive maneuvers. They are often cited to utilize a 'high-risk, high-reward' combat style, charging into the enemy line to combat them at close-range. Vanguards are often cited to have the highest casualty rate of specializations in the Alliance. Those designated with the military vocational code N7 are classified as Slayer class.

Sentinel Class: Those trained through a combination of biotic and tech talents. Utilize L2 or L3 implants to manifest their abilities and an advanced ablation armor system for further protection and survival on the field. Specialize in controlling the direction of combat on the battlefield, drawing enemy fire or protecting their squad with biotic barriers. They are often educated and proficient in almost all facets of the Alliance military, requiring a great deal of battlefield awareness and tactical acumen to remain vigilant enough to support their unit on the field via the best route viable. Those designated with the military vocational code N7 are classified as Paladin Class.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**First,** **ENEMIES EVERYWHERE!** **Haha...good times. ****I should also**** probably mention that one should read the 'if music in the 20th century exists' line of thought to the escalating tune of 'We didn't start the fire' at (3:16). Shit's fresh yo. I'm so talented. And honest to whatever god you worship, that dream actually happened. It was cray. I was sorry to wake up from it. And with all that out of the way, back to business. It was long overdue for Shepard to finally crack down on her fire team's tomfoolery. If you think about it, it's incredible at all she's made a functional team out of them. For the regular joe, it would take considerable time to create a coherent squad out of a _ (insert: Freelance Krogan mercenary, C-Sec Turian who likes to rebel against authority, Prothean Professor, Quarian prepubescent, Complete greenhorn, Soldier who gets a migraine every other hour, Soldier who mistrusts aliens). Takes considerable talent, I'm sure. Good job Shepard. And if you could call it one, the arc for Cerberus ends next chapter (...or does it!?). Until then!**

**Review Responses:**

**AC-Unity: **Shepard's just gonna do Shepard. Shepard don't care. And as for Shield...it's a mystery all right. If enough people pm me, I'll do a crossover with Scooby-Doo, and get Mystery Inc. on the case. With them in the picture, the mystery might be solved, hopefully before someone in the chapter can say 'Jinkies!'

**RLR: **And woah dude, you're like thinking, way WAY far off. If was able to write the story to the point of Overlord already, I'd be soooo happy.

**In the Next Chapter: But wait. It gets better.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	22. Cerberus Complications

I peered back into the black-flecked, mud brown eyes across from me. An inordinate amount of light seemed to glint off them, despite how dim the room was. Then they slowly narrowed, trying to shield themselves from my stare, in a futile effort to protect whatever secrets they held. Our eyes continued to be locked in this fashion, each party trying to outmaneuver the other, carefully reading each others' face, searching for any hint of weakness that might be present. And eventually, the duel came to an end. If I had blinked even once, I knew that I would have missed his quick glance down to the table. But that was all I needed. I got the answer I was looking for.

"All in."

Activating my omni-tool, I pushed the virtual chips in front of me to the center of the table. The pot located there doubled in size. His eyelids shut close and he reeled his head back in frustration.

"Dammit!"

"You're not foldin' are ya Ray?" Felawa asked standing over his shoulder, peering down at his hand.

"What?! N...Let me think," he replied with a surly expression. He slowly reopened his eyes and trained them on me again.

"Ha, you've got nothing Tanaka, give it up!" the balding engineer seated next to me said. I believe his name started with a T, I hadn't quite caught it when he introduced himself.

"Nah Tony, Shield's totally bluffing! I've finally figured out his tells! Call it!" requisitions guy Dan said next to him.

"Ah shut up Fantum! You say that every hand!"

"I just do that to throw you all off! But I'm telling you for real this time, he's totally bluffing!"

I didn't blink as Tanaka continued his stare down.

"We don't have all day," I said snidely.

"He's right. What's your bet Ray?" a bridge ensign named Gladstone asked on my left.

"...Dammit. Fine! All in!" Tanaka shoved his holographic stack into the center too. Chatter of excitement broke out around the table.

"Alright boys! Let's see 'em!" another guy from the bridge named Harry said, motioning for us to show our hands.

Tanaka clicked a button on his omni-tool to display his cards first. A couple of the guys let out whistles as the cards laid themselves out on the table.

"You were worried about going in with this!?" Gladstone said boggled.

He had the heart of the cards. Five cards of the heart suit that is. A flush. Dude was certainly cautious to have almost folded with that kind of hand. Everyone's heads now slowly turned to me. I did my best to keep a straight face as I poked the display button on my omni-tool, my hand suddenly showing itself on the board. Tanaka's caution was well warranted.

Roars of laughter and outrage erupted in the mess hall. Tanaka swore in frustration as the pot suddenly transferred itself to my corner.

"Four sevens?! How the hell..." Harry trailed off.

They called it Skyllian-five but it was the same as Texas hold'em. Or Primero. Or Five card draw. Just another variant of regular ass Earth poker.

"I honestly thought to the maker you were bluffing just now," the old balding engineer whispered beside me.

"To be honest, I might as well been. I do like to go all in. Sometimes when I don't even have a pair. Keeps ya guessin."

"I'll remember that," he muttered back, looking down at my winnings. It took some time for the ruckus of the table to die down, the conversations to trail off. A lot of the guys were checking their accounts to see if they could still afford to play.

"So...who's up for round five," Harry asked resetting the table, now that everyone had settled back down.

"Just thought I'd give you guys a fair warning...we're literally seconds away from picking up the Commander," Joker's voice boomed over the entire deck.

"Oh shit!" Harry shouted immediately shutting down the game. Everyone simultaneously jumped out of their seats in a panic and started hauling ass out of the mess hall. Into the elevator, up the stairs, to the med bay, and every other direction you could think of.

"Woah, what's going on?" I said standing up in alarm.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner!" Gladstone shouted back angrily at the disembodied voice.

"Thought I'd let you guys finish your game first."

"Uh...guys?" I tried to ask one by one, as each player began to disappear. In a matter of seconds, the mess hall had emptied, save for myself and Tanaka who still sat across from me. Some time passed before he decided to take it upon himself to answer.

"Not much to do aboard a spacecraft," Tanaka muttered. He had a cool, collected face on him, sharply contrasting with the others that had just split. "So you play a few games, watch a few vids, try to entertain yourself in whatever spare time you find. The Commander isn't too fond of what we consider 'fun'."

"Ah. So you do it when she's away?"

"Right," he replied before pausing and turning around to find Felawa back standing over his shoulder.

"Hey Ray, I, uh...forgot where I'm supposed to be posted on the ship this shift..."

Tanaka groaned. "It's like I'm never off duty around you."

"Please?"

"Okay okay, god, just stop making that face. You're supposed to be standing watch port side of the Command center, right behind the XO."

"Thanks!" Felawa said before sprinting off toward the stairs. The synthetic voice of the ship's VI suddenly came over the intercom. "Logged. The Commanding Officer is aboard. XO Pressly stands relieved."

I looked away from the ceiling where the voice had came and back to the marine sitting in front of me.

"So...why aren't you in a hurry to get back to-"

"It's not my rotation," he abruptly replied. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to catch some shut-eye before it is." He pushed himself up out of his seat and started dragging his feet toward the bunk room.

_Oh. Okay. I didn't want to talk with you either._

I watched his back as he slowly trudged away, past Kaidan's console, the small column of sleeping pods, and into the universal bed room of the crew.

_Dude's probably just butt hurt about losing._

I looked down at my arm and tapped my omni-tool back online to see my new balance.

_Just a butt hurt Beverly because I just won stacks on stacks on stacks. And grandma said gambling doesn't pay. So much moolah. I just made bank bro. I could buy a range rover right now._

I minimized my omni-tool's credit display of 529 credits.

_...and its time I probably find out how the mission went._

But I didn't get up from my seat. Instead, I just ended up staring at the tabletop.

_...actually, let's just wait here. I'm sure someone will come by..._

I got a snack pack out from my pants pocket and tore it open. I had finished about half of the veggie chips in it when I heard the elevator doors finally slide open.

_Knew it._

I saw Liara come round the corner a moment later with a despondent look on her face. We made eye contact and I waved her over to see what was up.

* * *

Joker snapped his head left to Rosey as alarms suddenly went off on the bridge. "What's going on?!"

She responded with extreme panic. "Joker! A Geneva-class cruiser just warped out of FTL three kilometers out! And it's headed right for us!"

That took him aback. "What? Why? What do they want?"

Rosey was just as confused. "We don't know! They're ignoring all our hails!"

"HEADS UP! They're powering up their main cannon. They're firing at us!" Gladstone shouted.

"Already saw!" Joker shouted back as he jerked the ship out of its trajectory.

"Guys get this! The identification number of the vessel matches the SSV Dubai. It was reported stolen from an Alliance shipyard years ago, same time as the SSV Geneva incident. The organization considered responsible was..."

Joker finished the sentence for him. "Cerberus." He pulled the ship up as another volley from the SSV Dubai sailed under them. "Tell the crew to brace for impact! I'm going in!" He cranked the ship's thrusters into overdrive.

"Joker wait! We can't-"

"Oh, but we will!" he retorted as the gap between the vessels suddenly began to close. The exchange was now a game of chicken.

_Bring it on you bastards..._

The ship fired once more. Joker jerked the figurative wheel of the ship as hard as he could. The Normandy rotated, turning upside down, and the Dubai's volley grazed the belly of it. "HAHA! WE GOT EM! Activate the GARDIAN systems!" Joker yelled, keeping the Normandy on course, now dangerously close to the Cerberus vessel.

"Danger," the VI sounded over the bridge. "Collision in 550-390-145-"

"Fire!" Joker shouted as they sailed under the ship. Simply put, it was no contest. The GARDIAN lasers were fatalistic at this range. They tore into Cerberus' hull, spacing the bastards that had just tried to get the jump on them. "Tell Officer Lowe to get the main gun ready!" Joker shouted. The Normandy was now several hundred meters passed the ship again and Joker was about to change that. He steered the ship back around for another attack, positioning the Normandy's nose right behind Cerberus' stern. "FIRE!" he commanded once again. In response, the Normandy launched several crackling blue torpedoes at the cruiser. Their ship was already damaged, limping away, too large to even properly outmaneuver the smaller and faster frigate. They most definitely couldn't withstand this next assault. And didn't. The Cerberus cruiser blew up in a spectacular fashion, chunks of metal hull spreading in every which way, and Joker watched as a magnificent ray of light enveloped the Normandy as they subsequently shot through it.

"Joker! You saved us again!" Rosey fawned. "How can we ever repay you?!"

"Just doing my job," he coolly replied.

"Are you?"

The voice snapped him out of his day dream. To his dismay, he looked up to find Shepard standing over him. "Oh, uh...hey Commander."

"You weren't listening to a word I was saying were you?"

"...how long have you been there?"

She stared out the Normandy's window letting out a sigh. "Great."

"Sorry, I was...uh...a little busy...minimizing the engine polarity of the Normandy before it caught damage from the drive core. There were abnormal fluctuations in our eezo core you see, and, I think it was due to the auxiliary charge not being inverted...because our FTL drive was affected by a ripple around our vacuum-field-gravity dampener. I might have to double check with Adams because that must have created some sort of anomaly in our auxiliary aligned power too. I'm pretty sure-" He stopped when he saw that she had that look of hers. "...are you buying any of this?"

"No."

"Keep going," Rosey said from somewhere behind Shepard. "I want to hear more about those ripples from the vacuum field gravity dampa-whatser affecting our FTL drive."

Joker chose to ignore her. "So...what's up?"

"The opposite direction your career will be going if you don't just punch in this navigation course." She tossed a data pad onto his lap.

"Hey, watch it! Brittle bones here!" He tentatively picked the data pad up and started examining Pressly's charts. "How'd the mission planet side go?"

"We found Cerberus performing illegal genetic experiments, sick ones. Studying freakish looking xenos."

"Ugh...did you get pictures?"

"No."

"Aw," Joker replied, still looking over the coordinates Pressly wanted to for FTL jumps.

"We also found the corpse of Admiral Kahoku in one of their labs."

That caused him to look up in shock. Her face was grim as the words left her mouth, a giant shift from the annoyed expression she had been sporting moments ago. "Kahoku?!"

"He was onto them, told information on where they were...so they killed him."

"You can't be...are we talking about the same guy? Admiral Kahoku of the SSV Ardenne? The Captain of the only ship orbiting Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz? The guy that knocked down a fourth of the pirate ships that-"

"Yeah. And they shouldn't have been able to. He was supposed to be in hiding, some where no one could find him."

"I thought that Shield's boss-"

"Apparently not. Or maybe not at all." She stared out the Normandy's window. Joker glanced down at the data pad in his hand then back to Shepard.

"...shouldn't we contact the Alliance about this?"

"Not yet. I'm having Alenko write a report, but I don't want to confirm what happened until we actually take down Cerberus."

"What...where are we going?"

"Like I said, they were just conducting sick experiments down there. After accessing their databanks, Tali found that their main base of operations is in the Columbia System, on a planet called Nepheron."

"Columbia!? Shepard, that's a day and half trip from this system. They'd be long gone before-"

"We're not just going to ignore this lead Moreau." She never called him by his real name unless she was pissed. Really pissed.

"...Of course Commander. I just wanted to warn you it's going to take some time before we're able to get there."

"Just get us moving in the right direction. I can wait." She pivoted and began to walk back towards the CiC. Joker exhaled, scratching his neck. He put the data pad aside and pulled the Normandy's haptics back up, beginning to punch in commands. He felt a tiny kick as he turned the Normandy to face its new course.

The ship's dampeners still needed fine tuning.

* * *

I sat there in the bathroom stall staring at the floor. I didn't really need to use the can, I just needed to a place to be alone. Except for Shepard's private quarters, every part of the ship was always occupied, from the bridge to engineering. I would have normally just chosen a cot in the bunk room and lay there in the dark if there had been one available. The bathroom stalls were the only place where I knew I wouldn't be bothered. Hopefully.

And the reason I needed time to think all by my lonesome? That was solely because Kahoku was dead.

I had just talked with Liara about what had gone down on Binthu. As I spoke with her, her face was just...it had a darkness to it. Like she had seen horrors beyond description. Seeing that face made me sick to my stomach. What she told me would be nothing good. But I thought she must had just been rattled by Cerberus' creatures, the Rachni, which I just couldn't _wait_ to see for real, and those Thorian creepers, equally disturbing I'm sure. Green, eye socket-less zombies. Definitely couldn't wait to see those.

But then she just dropped his name at the end of the conversation. Almost as if was a small minute detail to be simply overlooked.

_Kahoku. Dead._

I excused myself and aimlessly wandered around until I ended up here. And her I sat on this toilet, thinking of how the hell it could have happened.

_I saw that Kahoku got protection. Personally. I gave him that info on Kai Leng. I mean, unless the Broker didn't accept that as payment and decided to instead help Cerberus by giving him up...but there's no way. The Broker had given Kahoku, and thus Shepard, information on Cerberus in the first place. They were enemies...unless the Broker got a favor from the Illusive man while backstabbing him at the same time...but the Broker wouldn't do that though...why?...because..._

I tried to think of a reason why that was absurd. In the original game, Kahoku went to the Broker of his own accord and asked for information on Cerberus. And it was given to him...

_Freely? Or did Kahoku trade him for that information and it just wasn't mentioned in the game. Would they really give him information on the empty promise that he would get them anything Shepard found? If they expected him to get them information on Cerberus from Nepheron...why would they let him die. Because Shepard would give them that info in his stead?! But then...did Kahoku try to hide himself without anyone's help in the game? Or did the Admiral ask the Broker for help hiding in that too?_

There were so many variables. Too many unknowns. What was done and wasn't. What should have happened, had happened, and didn't. But really, there was only one thing that I knew for certain. I failed. The Admiral was killed. Cerberus had murdered him after he had tried to avenge his marines.

_..and now his wife, his children, and his grand kids would go on without him. I was supposed to save the guy...and I failed._

I wiped my eye before choking back a laugh.

_I sent him to the shadiest mother fucker in the entire galaxy for protection. And what did I give him? A tidbit on some douchebag? Motherfucking Kai Leng?...and the Broker would already fucking know that of course! He had all that stuff listed about Kai Leng in the first place didn't he?! You got that info from his own dossier on Cerberus. _

I dropped my face into my hands.

_I should have given him info on the Illusive Man. Then the Broker would have actually given a damn about him. Wondered how the hell Kahoku had such important info...but I didn't. I was selfish. I gave him a sentence worth of information on some third-rate goon to barter with and sent him along. Washed my hands of it as soon as I could. But what could...I could have invited him onto the Normandy. Shepard would've obliged to have the Admiral on board for safety. Cerberus wouldn't be able to touch him._

I stopped burying my face in my palms and looked back up to the bathroom walls.

_I killed him. Indirectly but...no. I knew he was going to die. And I didn't do anything to stop it. In court that would be murder by...what is it...murder...murder by second degree...uh...aiding and abetting a crime?_ _No, I was...an_ _accessory. I was an accessory to murder. An accessory to the murder of Admiral Kahoku..._

But then it hit me. Reality actually began to sink in. It was blatantly obvious to be frank, but it never really occurred to me until just now. I didn't even know the guy. I don't even know his first name. I talked to him twice, albeit barely. In fact, he was a video game character. He didn't even exist. And he was one scripted to die in the game too. I was hiding in a bathroom stall grieving for a fictional character destined to die. And for that second, I lost all remorse I had for him. He looked as real as any regular Human being but at the end of the day...was he really?

The train of thought ran its course. I entertained it, weighed its value, let it roll around in my head.

_Stop being a fucking asshole._

The line of thinking abruptly ended.

_What._

_You're kind of being a dick._

_...am I?_

_Yes. We've gone over this so many times now, it's not even funny jackass. Even if the man, Kahoku, isn't real...does it matter? Even if everything here or, hell, even if something in real life was fiction, solely a product of my mind, would you let it suffer? Let them suffer whatever horror or pain that befell them? If you were insane, and had an imaginary friend crying out for help...would you really just ignore them? Ignore them when you could help them instead?...Of course you would asshole! Real or fake or something in between. It doesn't matter. Again...we're going to do everything we can to make sure everyone lives, and that more importantly, the Reapers lose. End of story._

With a deep breath, I got up from where I was sitting.

_But if he was a fictional character...if he doesn't exist...what does that mean for everything around you? Everyone you talked to and touched? Are they truly fictional as of now? ...are you?_

I decided to leave that train of thought alone and unlocked the bathroom stall's latch.

"I'm sorry Kahoku," I decidedly muttered under my breath. "I really am...but I'll make it up to you."

_I'll make it up to everyone._

I walked out of the bathroom and took a left, finding myself run headlong right into Kaidan.

"Ow," I said holding my forehead.

Kaidan was a little more melodramatic. "AGH!" He dropped the data pad he was holding to the ground and gripped his head like it was about to explode.

_Wow. That's a little unneccess-wait._

"Oh shit, sorry, did I just give you a migraine?"

He held out a hand toward me as he turned away from me, still gripping his head with the other. I let him stand there like that for a couple more minutes.

"...Should I get some ice?"

He groaned. "No, just...just give me a second." So I did. Gave him several seconds...or minutes more like. Waiting for him to recover, I picked the data pad he dropped off the floor as he battled his demons. Waiting a while longer, he eventually recollected himself, slowly removing the palm from his fore head and straightened back up.

"Dude, I'm really really sorry about that," I said apologizing again.

"It's alright," he said turning back around to face me. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

I extended the data pad back toward him. "Neither was I. Still...sorry."

"Sometimes they just flare up like that. I think we both just need to...keep an eye out next time."

"I'll certainly try," I said rubbing my forehead again trying to milk my injury. Not that the action assuaged my guilt at all.

"Hey, while I got you-"

"Yeah?" I asked curious.

"Shepard and I talked in the garage after the mission. I think she plans to have you on the squad for the next mission."

"Really?" I replied. "What about Emerson?"

"He's staying on the roster. Shepard wanted to rotate you in for Liara."

"Really?" I found myself. "Did she...do something wrong down there?"

"What? No. It's just that...she's never seen combat like that before. And with the next drop we're doing, things are going to get rough."

I found myself agreeing with their call. "Ah, okay. Gotcha. Looking forward to it."

"Glad to hear it," he said with a faux smile. "Now then, if you excuse me..." He made a move for the bathroom behind me.

"Oh wait, did Shepard say where we're going next?"

_What could it be? Feros? Noveria?...Am I actually even prepared for those? What else-_

"Nepheron. That's where Cerberus' main base of operations apparently is. Got the coordinates of their location from one of their facilities on Binthu."

_Oh right. UNC Hades Dog._

"Oh...well then, I'm glad there's still some of them left for me."

"We should get there in two days' time. Until then, why don't you get some rest." He patted me on the shoulder and then entered the john.

I brainstormed what I could do that would occupy me for two days. I mean...two days. 48 hours. That'd be like forever from now-

* * *

**Two. Days. Later.**

"Cliff!"

"I see it!"

"CLIFF!" Kaidan shouted from the back again.

"I SEE IT!" Shepard shouted again while hitting the boosters, sending the Mako flying into the air. It cleared the gap with ease, landing with a heavy thunk on the other side. She continued to jam the throttle of the Mako forward, moving full speed ahead toward Cerberus' hide out.

_According to the vehicle's positioning system, it should just be over this-_

She hit the boosters again, causing the Mako to spring off the top of the hill. The two missiles speeding at them sailed by harmlessly underneath them.

"Oh shit!" Ashley sputtered, returning fire at the missile array from the vehicle's gunner seat. Shepard swerved left as soon as they landed, just in time to avoid two more.

"They're hostiles on foot down there too!"

"I see them!" the chief replied, firing the mass accelerator at the compound's defenses. They exploded in a bright orange ball of flame, a mushroom cloud of smoke shortly erupting from it afterwards.

She jerked the wheel, causing the Mako to steer itself in direction of the base. As she did, the Mako ran over a gun man who had apparently thought to board their vehicle. The other three were as lucky as he was, getting gunned down by the Mako's axial mounted machine gun just as she parked it in front of the compound's entrance. The Mako's weapons were assuredly still hot when she gave the order for them all to move out.

Lined up single file, Shepard looked over her team once more before they entered. Wrex, Garrus, and Ashley looked almost eager, weapons cocked and ready for whatever they might find down in the bowels of Cerberus' lair. Turning to the next two, she could tell underneath both their helmets that Emerson and Tali were nervous at what they might find this time around. Alien bugs, horrific lab experiments, other dead officers- Shepard understood their fear. Emerson and Tali seemed to straighten up though when they realized she was looking at them. Glancing to the back of the line, she found Kaidan and Shield looking robotic, not showing any sign of emotion at all, their faces completely blank.

Kaidan was a disciplined marine, he knew how to hide whatever emotions he might find himself feeling during a mission. It was a surprise to her though that Shield was able to do the same, in spite of his usual faraway, absentminded look. Realizing she had been staring for longer than she had meant to, she looked back to Wrex at the front of the group. "We're going in hot! Weapons ready!"

As they stormed down the hallway and into the underground facility's anteroom, they found that Cerberus had decided to strategically abandon it, as not a soul was in it. Convenient for them, as this left Shepard and her squad able to make one last preparation before their assault. She had Emerson and Shield loot the containers and lockers in the room for useful equipment as she went over the details of their attack plan again.

"Remember, we're divvying up into two fire teams. Emerson, Tali, Shield and I will take the left. Kaidan, Wrex, Ashley, and Garrus will go right. Form a pincer movement, cross firing, and meet each other at the back of the room. Biotics create openings aggressively, soldiers lay down suppressive fire for them, tech specialists are relegated to support roles. Spot movement, locate enemies, use their abilities to help cover team. Any questions?"

They all shook no. "Good."

They then burst into the main room to execute her strategy. Or as well as they could in any case. Shepard found her team quickly mired by the room's openness. Her fire team immediately took cover behind the crates left in front of the room's entrance. As she attempted to peek over one and analyze the battlefield, a shot knocked her back behind the crate, her kinetic barriers stripped in one shot. Their position was accosted by rifle fire immediately after.

"Go go go!"

Behind them, Kaidan and Wrex had created barriers with their biotics upon first entering the room, allowing them to absorb the incoming fire and shield their team long enough to get them to safety on the far right side of the room. The cover they found apparently gave them a good view of the room because Kaidan subsequently shouted "They're moving up on your left!"

She didn't attempt to peek first this time. Shepard materialized a biotic barrier and leaned left from the crate, firing her pistol as soon as she did. The shots immediately found their mark upon a Cerberus gun man out of cover. He rolled away behind a column as soon as his shields went down. Not enough Shepard thought as she chucked a grenade toward his direction. After she heard the explosion, Shepard left her cover to advance, before immediately finding herself besieged by enemy fire again and rolling back behind the crate.

The fire fight went on in this fashion, being much longer than she had anticipated. The Cerberus commandos were training most of their focus on her position, giving Shield and Emerson little room to return suppressive fire. The Krogan would have been better in this scenario, as he could've taken more punishment in an exchange like this, barreling through.

Fortunately the giant lizard was still able to contribute to the battle. She could hear him charging down the right side of the chamber, which would clear a path for the other fire team to move into. In this fashion, the other team eventually reached the position of the Cerberus snipers, and subsequently routed them. And without their infiltrators, Cerberus lost their fangs. She popped up and had time to throw a singularity for the first time during the fight without losing her shields. Following her lead, Shield and Emerson now laid heavy fire on Cerberus' position, distracting them long enough for Wrex and Garrus to finish them off.

"Room clear Commander!" Ashley shouted as the last body hit the floor.

"Alright, good work!" Shepard shouted back as she got up, extremely grateful she could finally stretch her legs. Cerberus had made them dig in hard. Probably laid out the room like it was to delay what had just happened. In fact, they probably would still be pinned if it hadn't been for their Krogan Battlemaster barreling through their lines, shrugging off all their gunfire.

"Well...that wasn't so bad," Shield commented behind her.

"Probably didn't seem so bad because you were hiding behind cover the entire time," she replied.

"Hey! I totally killed a Cerberus goon! Hey Emerson, you saw it! Back me up."

"I don't know Shield, you _were_ taking awfully long breaks between volleys."

"What? I was popping my heat sink dude!"

"Is that a Human euphemism for something?" Garrus asked approaching us.

"What? No. My gun literally-"

She decidedly tuned them out as she approached the door leading further into the facility, giving a short motion to Wrex.

"Shepard."

"Wrex. You're taking vanguard position. Get ready for whatever's on the other side. Tali, get this door open."

Several seconds later, Tali had already cracked it, and as the door hissed open, she stormed in after Wrex, finger tightly pressing against the trigger of her gun.

_Empty._

She lowered it. "Fire Team two, hold this hallway. Emerson, Shield- you're on point on with me." She motioned for them to approach right before looking back to the rest. "I want the rest of you watch that room to our left. Make sure no one gets the jump on us."

"You got it Commander," Ashley replied.

Arriving at the door not moments later, Shepard got ready to conjure a singularity as the door slid open, only to find to her disappointment that no one was inside. They still checked the equipment left scattered about in the room, picking up whatever gear Cerberus might have left behind, but...this was supposed to be their headquarters. The nerve center for the rogue black ops operations. They're should have been more.

Emerson and Shield who were now significantly weighed down by the amount of fire arms slung across their backs, walked back into the forked hallway.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing," she replied back to Kaidan at the end of their approach. "Get ready. The next room probably holds the last of them." Again to her disappointment, they found it empty. Only a single console occupied the room, standing in front of a huge data hub attached to its back.

"Shepard...I think this might have been another outpost," Vakarian said from behind. "I've seen a lot of criminal hideouts. This was too sparse to be one."

"I'm aware of that Garrus. We're about to find the rest. Kaidan, get on that terminal. See what you can find."

"You go it Commander." He quickly rushed over and began typing away.

"What do you think's on it?" Shield asked.

"Outposts, projects, whatever they might have been trying to accomplish here," she replied. "I don't know what the hell they were doing with those creatures on Binthu but-" A shrill alarm suddenly came from the computer terminal. She wheeled back to Kaidan. "What the hell's that!?"

"It's flashing itself!"

Shepard cursed to herself as she realized her mistake. Tali was extremely talented when it came to retrieval of sensitive data like this. Dammit.

"I'm uploading every file I can onto my hardsuit's internal drive! Hopefully we can get something-"

The console screen suddenly flashed brightly before it stopped whining and shut down. The lieutenant dropped what he was doing and grabbed his head in response.

"Kaidan!" she blurted as she rushed to his side. "Are you alright?!"

"Shepard-" He winced in pain. "Just...just need a moment."

She turned to the rest of the group still standing out in the hall way. "Alright, we're done here. Get ready to move out." Then she activated her radio. "Normandy, this is ground team. We're ready for pick-up."

* * *

The wait had been short. Before she had realized it, the Mako and the rest of the team had already been picked up and were back on the Normandy. And as she climbed out of the vehicle, Joker's voice came on over her radio piece.

"Hey Commander, we just received an incoming transmission minutes before we came to pick you up. And I think you might want to hear it."

"Alliance? Tell them I'll be right up," she replied, wondering why he had contacted her over her ear piece and not the ship's intercoms-

"Definitely NOT Alliance."

With that, she double-timed it up to the CiC, coming to a brisk stop by the time she got to the star map. "Joker...put it through."

"Alrighty Commander."

The voice of a Turian came on seconds later, and she found it rather...slimy. "Greetings Commander Shepard. I represent a party interested in obtaining information on Cerberus activities."

"Who are you," she asked hostilely, "and who do you represent?"

"Who I am is inconsequential. Suffice to say, I am an agent of the Shadow Broker."

_Shield must have contacted him as soon as we went down. If he's still in contact with them..._

"You see, Admiral Kahoku contacted my employer, as he was looking for information on the location of any Cerberus facilities. We provided that information on the premise that he would turn over copies of all files gathered from Cerberus' systems to us."

"And why the hell would I do that? The deal was that you would protect Kahoku while we did this! And we found him dead."

It was still lingering fresh in her mind, the death of Kahoku, Cerberus' experiments, what role the Shadow Broker played in them all...what role Shield played in them-

"We deeply regret his loss. We found too late that an employee of ours was a double agent, and had informed their handlers of his location as we were transferring him to a safe house. Suffice to say, the Broker was displeased at this turn of events and appropriately punished those responsible."

"And why didn't you tell us?"

"I'll be honest, we weren't sure how you would react. We wanted to make sure you had the information first before contacting you. We regret his loss but we will be sure to recompense the ones he loved for our mistake."

_His death's not going to be softened by credits._

"There's still the question of how you even knew where Cerberus was located in the first place. How did you know they were on Binthu? And if you wanted this information, why didn't you get it yourself?"

"Information is our business Commander. Through our contacts, we were able to determine the Cerberus group was active in the Voyager cluster. However, we don't possess the unique skills you possess Commander. That's why we asked for your help in acquiring these files. With them, we hopefully will be able to learn even more about their activities. Information that may be of help to you in the future."

"Well I got news for you, these are classified Alliance documents. You're not getting them. Especially not after you let the Admiral die the way he did-"

"Be reasonable Commander. Cerberus was operating outside Alliance jurisdiction. You don't owe them any loyalty."

"And I don't owe anything to you."

"Commander, the Alliance is just going to file this information away in some archive. But no secret stays hidden forever. Eventually, someone will deliver it into our hands. It might as well be you. Transmit the files to us and you'll be well rewarded."

"Like I care. My loyalty is to the Alliance, not the Shadow Broker. And if you think Shield's going to be able to get you those files instead, you've got another thing coming."

She slightly regretted mentioning that. They weren't supposed to know about his connection with them. But if she could drive a wedge between Shield and his employer, he'd be that much more-

"That is unfortunate Commander. My employer will remember this next time you need something from us. As an apology for our hand in the Admiral's demise however, we'll at least leave you this last courtesy. Contrary to what you may have heard, the one you refer to as 'Shield' is in no way affiliated with our organization."

"...what?"

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Project Orthus**

_Input Command:_

_Entry B - 012:_

Today we shipped the 'Suen' specimens offworld. We've sequenced enough of their genome to begin cloning our own and no longer need them. The Illusive Man apparently wants to do further tests on the subjects we received from 15 though and sent them to some depot for further study. As I've noted previously, we thought they just needed time to adjust to their new environment, but these things have proved to simply be feral animals, reacting to the most basic stimuli, showing cognition no higher than Earth Formicidae. I don't understand how they had ever been advanced enough to achieve space travel. In any case, we are proceeding with cloning. We have already created fertilized blastocysts that we will develop through IVF, as outdated as the procedure is. Hopefully these subjects will give us more promising results. (Close)

_Input Command:_

_Entry D - 020:_

After several weeks of study, the cloned Suen specimens prove to be unsuited for our designated objectives as well. They were too stupid to even be trained through basic operant conditioning. As I was bout to deem our division of the cell a failure, the Illusive Man relayed to us that he was sending a new batch of specimens from 15. They apparently differ from the others we've gotten, growing this time in proximity to something he referred to as the 'master control unit'. We are scheduled to receive them tomorrow. The cloned specimens have already been transferred to the Barn, where I believe the Depot had already sent theirs as well. I can only hope we're not wasting more of our time. (Close)

_Input Command:_

_Entry E - 005:_

Our newest arrivals have caused our division to move at neck-break speed. Though they are genetically identical to the original specimens we received earlier in every single way, down to every single genetic pair, they boast an exponentially different IQ. They aced the cognitive tests for xeno-organisms so well that on a hunch, we administered the test for alien sapience. They passed. This has caused our division to go into an uproar, and I believe this was the break through we were looking for. Upon hearing our report, the Illusive Man has already had a number of our specimens sent to the Depot in preparation for transfer to the Barn, which I strongly contest the decision of. I can only hope he can get us more as we could be on the verge of something great here. These creatures will respond much better to our experiments than the ones before...I don't believe Dirk's division has made nearly as much progress with conditioning those products of species 37. We might end up getting their funding if we keep moving as fast as we are now. (Close)

_...Terminal Online. _

_Identification required:_

Operative Banes.

_Scanning card. Identification accepted. Experiment Log is E - 015. I__nput Command:_

Transfer Files to - Orthus Cell Secondary Hub.

_Registering Command:_

_Completed. __Input Command:_

Delete all records.

_Registering Command:_

_..._

_..._

_Error. Command failed to execute. __Input Command:_

_..._

_Input Command:_

_..._

_Input Command:_

_..._

_Input Command:_

...Location of Orthus Cell Secondary Hub.

_Registering Command:_

_Clearance Check...Completed. Orthus Cell Secondary Hub location listed as: Voyager, Columbia, Nepheron. [Coordinates delivered to handheld]_

_Input Command: __

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Whenever I see the amount of time that's passed in a story, I like to read it in the voice of that french narrator from Spongebob. Always makes transitions ten times more enjoyable. And if Shield never gets around to mentioning it, the standard issue armor that Cerberus commandos wear is the Cerberus Assault armor. Matching uniforms always makes an organization ten times more threatening, and I think these would especially more so (more than the bland black armor they wore in the game anyway). In any case, thanks for reading guys and I'll catch y'all next time. A big thanks to NathanHale2 for beta-ing again too.**

**In the Next Chapter: ...what?**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	23. Trust is a Two-way Tollroad

"That's everything you two got?"

"Yup," I replied as I placed the last rifle down on the bench.

Nepheron had gone pret-ty well. And more importantly, I learned that looting in Mass Effect was apparently the same deal as in the game, with the minor plot points of it brought to light. We found random items in every other container and locker left scattered across Cerberus' compound. And comparing the place to the one on Luna, it was starting to seem like every base we came across were going to look the same, as they did in the game. Probably some standard industrial design present throughout the galaxy. Or something.

Anyway, I learned that instead of just being put in a giant loot sack, the weapons, armor, omni-tools, and whatever else we found in that base were just straight up carried by Garrus, Emerson and I back to the Mako. We clipped as many guns as we could to our mag-belts and back, as many omni-gel canisters as we could carry in our arms, and slung the hardsuits we found over our shoulders. If any more reinforcements had shown up, we'd basically be lumbering Elcor-sized targets. We were definitely carrying way too many things to have put up a fight against anyone, and no one else even offered to help us carry them back to the vehicle. Lazy bastards. Thankfully though, it'd had been an uneventful walk balk to the Mako and Joker quickly picked us all up after we had gotten in.

Ashley had already started sorting through the various weaponry set down on the weapons bench before her. Two assault rifles, one pistol, one shotgun, and seven canisters of omni-gel, all looted from Cerberus' lockers. The two armor sets we found lay at her feet on the garage's floor. I unconsciously fondled the pistol on my hip staring at them. With all this extra booty, I was kind of hoping Shepard might finally throw a bone my way, give me something that wouldn't run out of ammo the moment we stopped fighting Geth in the Traverse. But I stopped my staring when Ashley suddenly spoke to my right.

"Hey Shield, if that's it, think can you give me some space? I'm going to need some room to get all this sorted out."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Sure," I said already backing away from the mess.

"Thanks."

Turning away from her, the first thing I spotted was Garrus who was typing away at a console next to the Mako. I was about to walk over and chat but I realized I didn't really have anything to say. We hadn't really talked about anything recently that I could really follow up on.

_Actually, come to think of it...we haven't really talked since Shepard finished that UNC mission, Geth Incursions. _

I must have done something to weird him out during 'shore leave' or at least some other time fairly recent too because after playing twenty questions with me in the med bay, we never seemed to run into each other anymore. The only other time we did was when I followed up on asking about Saleon. And he hadn't exactly seemed pleased to talk with me about it then either.

_Wait a second...yeah...what the hell? Is he mad at me?_

I had already taken several steps toward the Turian before I heard Wrex's voice boom from the crates he was leaning on.

"Shield."

I looked back in his direction.

"Wrex?"

And as I did, I simply found him passively staring at me. Curious, I put my inquisition with Garrus on hold and started walking toward the Krogan instead. I silently stood in front of him for what seemed like several hours before I couldn't wait any longer and asked him what he wanted.

"I have some questions for you princess."

_Questions for ME? That's new._

"Alright," I replied. "Shoot."

"What?"

"What do you mean what? You just said you had questions."

"Yeah, I do."

"Then why did you just ask me what?!"

"Because you just told me to shoot something. What the hell do you want me to shoot? You?"

He thrust one of his three fingers in my direction.

"What? No! It's a euphemism. It just means...you know what, never mind, it doesn't matter," I ended up sighing. "What did you want to ask me?"

He eyed me down for a while before finally asking. "You still have access to the Broker's network?"

"Network? Uh, no...no I don't," I said rubbing my neck.

He snorted. "No point in me asking then."

"Woah," I replied. "I don't have access to all my sources but I might still be able to tell you what you want to know."

"I don't think so."

"Come on, it couldn't hurt to ask could it?" I now said pleading. I was begging for anyone to view me as my useful at this point.

He suddenly pushed off the crates he was leaning against and stood at full height. I found once again, that he was terrifyingly giant.

"Tonn Actus. Ever heard the name?"

"Turian collector right?" I said remembering the mission.

"He's a Turian_ thief_," Wrex growled.

"Right. He steals relics from the Krogan Rebellions doesn't he?"

"So you are familiar with him."

"I guess?"

"He's a Turian pirate that made the rookie mistake of pissing me off. I need to know the name of system he's based in so I can settle our score."

Oh so they have _that_ idiom but not _shoot_?

"Know what it is?"

_Do I? ...nope. I know the game Wrex, but I'm no Encyclopedia Brown. What I wouldn't give for access to the ME wiki right about now._

"Uh sorry man, I don't."

He sighed. "I knew you wouldn't be any help. Don't know why I thought I'd ask."

The Krogan took several steps back to lean against his crates again.

I glared at him. "I'm guessing he stole something that belongs to you," I decided to ask regardless, attempting to get a story out of him. He rarely told them...in my company anyway.

"Doesn't matter if he did."

"Oh come on Wrex."

He turned his nose up at me. "I'm done talking with you."

"What'd he take? A gun? Knife?...armor?"

His face seemed to 'tighten', if that was the word for what it was currently doing. "You already know what he took don't you."

"What are you talking about?" I replied innocently.

"Stop playing dumb...what else does the Broker have on me?"

"Dude I-" With the glare he was giving me I decided not to go down that route. "Alright...Urdnot Wrex. Here we go. You're a well-known Krogan freelancer. But _everyone_ already knows that. What the others might not know is that you were the last Krogan to kill a Thresher Maw for his rite of passage-

_Which must have been several hundreds years ago...holy shit how old is Wrex?_

"-And sometime after becoming a mercenary, you took a job for Saren once. And you're occasionally hired by the Broker to fix his problems." The last 'fact' was an assumption. But I figured that entrusting him with killing Fist wasn't the first time they did business.

"Huh," the Krogan replied. He seemed unimpressed. So stupidly, I decided to add one more little tidbit to the list.

"You also had a band of followers back before you left Tuchanka. But that ended when you were betrayed at a 'crush'...arranged by you and your father."

That immediately caused him to close the small gap and get into my face. "Enough."

I immediately backpedalled several feet in response. "Woah, sorry man! Didn't mean to-"

"Doesn't matter," the Krogan cut me off, the rage in his eyes suddenly vanishing. "None of that matters now."

I now stood my ground, albeit cautiously. "Wrex..."

"Go off and do whatever the hell you do when you're not here annoying me."

"...Fine," I curtly replied before turning my back to him. If he didn't want to talk about his problems, then what did I care? I started walking toward the garage's elevator.

_Oh my god. Garrus is apparently avoiding me now, Wrex doesn't like me, and hell, even Ashley didn't seem to want me around either..._

_And oh, don't forget how awkward it is every time you see Liara._

I was pretty sure she still thought I was a dick for not introducing myself when we first met. I can imagine that even alien women didn't like to be ignored.

_What have I been doing that-_

I found my face only several inches away from Shepard's as the elevator doors slid open. The next thing I knew, Tanaka and Felawa had exited out of it and one of each had pinned my arms. I felt a click as cuffs were put on my hands and Tanaka ripped my Predator from its holster.

"What the hell?" I was barely managed to spurt. "What's going on?!"

"Marauder Shield," the Commander said coldly, an icy stare accompanying her words. "You are currently charged with the following offenses: Conspiracy against the Alliance. The act of Treason against the Alliance and Misprision of Treason. Operating under False Pretenses. Committing deliberate Fraud. The obstruction of justice and Perjury. Any statements made will be accounted for in a military court." She nodded to the two marines restraining me. "Bring him to the airlock."

I stood there in shock, unable to find the words. I noticed Kaidan and Dan looking on from behind Shepard, their faces impassive with what was transpiring. As they dragged me into the elevator, I managed to look over my shoulder. The inhabitants of the garage were leering back, stunned at what was happening as well. Then the doors of the elevator slid shut.

The elevator ride seemed to last an eternity. Shepard stood behind me, reciting the Alliance's form of the Miranda rights, recanting word after word that I was to be brought before one of their courts of justice. To my left, Tanaka was gripping my arm in his hands fairly tightly, face emotionless as we rode up. To my right was Felawa, who clearly felt perturbed by what was occurring. I don't know why but I just couldn't find the words to speak. I felt choked, like someone was strangling me, a sensation of failure rippling through my body. I don't know what happened but I had failed. Shepard was going to put me in that Alliance prison she had wanted me in the first place, back from that conflict we had after Eden Prime. Which had totally slipped my mind. How violent she had been back then, so ready to throw me to the wolves. She hated me; god did she hate me then. And I guess still did. And here I was just thinking I had finally started to win her over. That things were looking up.

My brain folded in on itself again, struggling to comprehend what was happening as I was shoved out of the elevator and marched up towards the CIC.

I had just been on the team for Nepheron. She assigned me to the fire team for the mission.

_If she had all this on me...there was no way she would have let me go with them. I would already be in cuffs. Something happened...something had to have happened right after the mission for this to be happening...What the hell happened?!_

Then it hit me. Hard. Like one of Shepard's famed biotic fields. An agent of the Shadow Broker called you right after you finished UNC: Cerberus. For the data you found. And here I was playing pretend, saying that I worked for him. I put two and two together. They were now marching me across the bridge. Fear suddenly gripped me as I realized that the Commander had just told them to bring me to the airlock. I finally found the ability to speak as the door to the chamber opened.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" I shouted before being thrust in. I fell flat on my face with my arms bound behind me.

"You lied to us. You lied about who you are and who you're working for," she said back emotionless. "I gave you the chance to tell us the truth. And yet you still lied."

Something lodged itself in my throat again. I felt like I was about to throw up.

"Shepard I-"

"Save it for the committee," she growled.

* * *

He looked down at the floor defeated, realizing the situation for him was utterly hopeless. It was a look she had seen too many times before.

She hated it.

"Shield...why didn't you just tell the truth? What were you trying to accomplish?" Felawa spoke out from behind her. She held up a hand to him, motioning to stop but Shield had already given him a response.

"I...I just wanted to help," he whispered, the last word barely audible. She had never seen him so pathetic. It was almost hard to believe.

"Help with what?" the private asked. She decided to let him continue his conversation. It didn't matter what was said in the end. Shield doesn't, and never did, belong on the Normandy. And now she was finally able to rectify the problem.

"Saren," he whispered again, now staring into her eyes. "I just...I thought I could help you stop him."

Her face contorted at the mention of him.

_Saren._

They had gone for more than a week without a single peep from him. Their mission progress so far had been a joke, with the only two leads they had being to scour two entire clusters for him. They had made no progress since they had first set out.

"If you don't work for the Broker," Kaiden suddenly spoke for the first time since hearing the news, "...how do you have all the intel you do? How did you know about the Normandy's shakedown run? ...Yeah, Joker told me about that. And how you know about my time at BAaT. I sure as hell didn't tell you about that beforehand. And then how the hell did you know Saren was going to attack Eden Prime too?!" he said getting angrier. "Are you telling us we have another mole here besides you?"

Dan glanced in her direction while Felawa exchanged a shocked look with Kaidan.

Shield had returned to simply staring at the ground absently, decidedly pursing his lips.

"Tell Me!" Kaidan now uncharacteristically shouted.

The man on the ground before them just quietly replied, "...I can't."

"Shield! You're going to be put in court! They're going to lock you away with what you know about the Alliance and its operations now! If you tell us then-"

"We're not going get anything else from him," Shepard said cutting off the lieutenant.

_Just look at him._

She had seen this look before. So many times before. The kind of look a man had before he was sentenced to die. Before he knew he was about to be fed to the wolves.

The man lying on the ground possessed the same look her men had back on Torfan. Back when she had just ordered them to take Darek's hill. The bunker atop it was well fortified, being the Batarian's main base of operations in the cluster. Its ground to air cannons had shot down dozens of their drop ships, and kept any real air support the Alliance had at bay. It was the last bastion they Batarians held in the system, and the only way to take it from them was on foot. But it was impenetrable. Half a kilometer high walls. Turrets trained on the valley they sat in, guns that would mow them down as soon as they left their trenches. It was estimated several hundred Batarians were inside as well, and in close combat situations, Batarians were known to be extremely lethal.

In light of all this, she had still ordered her unit to take that hill. There was no question that many would die in doing so. A third of the unit her Major predicted. Half she corrected him. Her company that night looked like dead men walking, each well-aware of the fact that none of them may well return.

That was the look Shield currently had. One of a man sentenced to die. One who knew they had no way out.

"Shepard..."

Hearing her name caused her to turn back to the wretch sprawled before her.

"You're going to be left in here until we reach the next fuel depot. Then you'll be transferred to another Alliance vessel for transport back to Arcturus sta-"

"Does it matter who I work for? Who I am?"

His words replayed themselves over and over in her head.

_Does it matter?_

"Yeah!" she replied angrily. "It does!"

"I never lied to you about wanting to help."

She turned away from the pathetic sight. "Leave him. We should be at the next depot in an hour." Felawa and Tanaka exited the chamber. She was halfway out herself before he finished.

"I never lied about wanting to help you take down Saren."

"Why." She asked, facing him again. "Why the hell would Saren matter to you?"

"...Because he'll kill us all," Shield plainly stated. "Not just you or me, or colonists in the Traverse. Not just Humans. Everyone."

"What?" Alenko whispered behind her.

"He wants to bring back the Reapers Shepard. If you've see that vision like I have, you know that." She unconsciously flinched as pieces of it flitted through her memory. "They'll kill everyone Shepard. Every sentient being in the Galaxy. Every man, women, and child. That's why_ I_ want to stop him. That's why_ we_ have stop him."

"_We'll_ stop him," she said, giving a nod to the marines behind her. "You're not going to be a part of this anymore."

"Shepard, I only-"

"Lied! You only _lied_. Over and over and over. I don't know why I even let you stay on this ship after Eden Prime!" She wanted to at the time with every fiber of her being...but she didn't. It wasn't just because of Anderson's word like she had told him. Or what he told her after Therum. Curiosity might have played into why she let him stay aboard but...in the end it didn't matter. "But I did. I gave you the chance to prove yourself. Even after all your bull. And in the end, you just proved me right. We can't trust you. This mission's too important to let you compromise it!"

"I HAVEN'T," he shouted at her with fervor. "I saved your fucking life back on Therum!"

"YOU DIDN'T-"

"I'm not talking about the garage!" he shouted over her. "Back in the mines! I put myself in harm's way to push you out from under that boulder!" The biting remark she was forming suddenly dissipated as the memory replayed in her memory again. "I would've gladly gave my life to save you there Shepard! And back before that, when that Krogan Ranok attacked us back in the ruins! He threw you clear across the room and knocked you unconscious. He was about to kill you when I stopped him!" Everyone was silent, the rest of the crew on the bridge no doubt listening to the entire the affair too. "Shepard...I would gladly give my life for this mission. To stop Saren at any cost. That's why I'm asking...why does it matter who I work for? Where I get my information? All that matters is that I care and share the same goal. I _want_ to stop Saren."

Shepard stood there silently, trying to find the words for a response. It left her mouth before she realized what she was saying. "Trust. That's what's needed for a mission to succeed. And with you, there is none."

He replied just as she finished. "And how much do you trust your crew Shepard? Kaidan? Ashley? Joker? Yeah sure. But what about Wrex? Liara? ...Garrus?"

She found herself snapping back as she was accustomed to. "This isn't about them!"

He finally got up off the floor. "Isn't it?! Why are they here? Why did you bring_ them_ onto the Normandy?"

She was beginning to grow irate with his retorts. "Because!" she shouted back. The answer was empty. It carried no meaning. Because it had none.

_...why did I bring them along?_

"Because they share the same goal as both of us. To stop Saren. Him and his allies."

They both stood there silently, for what seemed like an eternity. She didn't think anything of the man before her...until now. The sudden resolve he was showing now surprised her. But he was still a liability to the mission. Always had been. It didn't matter what his goals were.

"But you're right," he said breaking the silence before she could. "We need trust to finish this mission. Without it, we probably won't get anywhere." She waited for him to follow up on what he had just spoken. His eyes flitted to the floor before returning to meet her gaze. He straightened himself up and slacked the arms behind his back before continuing. "And I wasn't lying...entirely. I did work for the Broker."

_You're still trying to claim that. Why the hell are you still trying to claim that? You obviously know that's what the hell we're talking about. You aren't that stupid. You're aware that we know that you don't work for the Broker. So why are you still gripping onto that lie? You have to work with Cerberus. The reluctance to shoot back at them on Nepheron. How you knew what was going on at Binthu. What you already knew about the organization. How you have former Alliance intel. But you're still trying to claim that you work for the damn Shadow Broker?!...are you really that stupid? Do you really think we're that stupid?!-_

"Telling you what I'm about to say would endanger you all," he said now speaking to the marines behind her, cutting her off right as she was about to burst. "I know you all don't trust me, but if I tell anyone besides Shepard...it'd involve you in some serious shit."

"If you think we're leaving you alone with her, you're insane," specialist Fantum replied coldly.

"If you have something to say, you can say it to us too," Kaidan added.

Shield shifted his eyes back to her, looking for her opinion on the matter. She had none. He seemed to pick up on this. "Fine then...You want the real truth?" he asked almost manic now. He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "You can't handle the truth."

"What?" Tanaka muttered.

"I was an orphan when I was introduced to the Shadow Broker's organization. Not that I knew what they were at the time. I was just a young kid when they picked me off the streets. Heh, I must have been taken into their cult before I was even ten. Just some kid begging in the streets, having to dig through trash and shit for food. That's how bad it was. And when they first grabbed me...I thought I was about to be killed. End up some test subject for a psychopath. Was actually pretty common for orphaned kids back then. But...in the beginning...it was actually nice."

_He said he worked for the Broker. That would explain his whereabouts and the intelligence he's had. But the Broker told me he didn't. Unless they were trying to lie about the fact that he did...but that's unrealistic. That could only mean Shield works for Cerberus. They still have contacts in the Alliance, which would explain his intel on them...and the fact that he hadn't reported Shepard was coming for them on Binthu and Nepheron meant that he disagreed with what they were doing...or that he was just trying to maintain his cover. Why he couldn't just come clean and admit that though...and his actions on Therum...his words about Saren...he obviously believed in their mission. Those things would have all made up for this facade. If he hadn't just lied to us about that too! Why-_

Shepard grimaced. She loathed those who pretended to be something they weren't. She hated them. Despised them. Fucking liars were the scum of-

"They gave me free room and board, food, games...and all I had to do was stay in their facility. The only thing they actually asked in return was for me to just take these...tests." He briefly closed his eyes and exhaled again before continuing.

_What game are you even trying to play?!_

"This went on for what must have been a year. Test after test after test. And then after one day...they just suddenly stopped. I remember the last one being a simple questionnaire. One on morality and ethics...that kind of shit. What-if scenarios I think. But in any case, I remember that being the last one. They grabbed me from my bed later that night, blindfolded me, plugged my ears, and threw me onto a space ship. I only knew that last bit because the shuttle had shitty dampeners. I got sick from the take off."

Shepard briefly glanced back to the four men behind her. They all seemed engrossed in the story. Specialist Fantum seemed to be buying it in particular.

"I thought I was going to die. But when everything was actually removed, I found myself in a dark room...no lights...a wide open chamber...and a bunch of screens. Across from me were dozens of these blue screens, hundreds of words and letters and all other kinds of crazy symbols strewn across them. It was surreal. And below all those monitors was...a desk. And at it...was the first time I saw him. I had never seen one before but I could tell he was a Salarian when I saw him."

"You think you actually met the Broker?" Fantum scoffed.

"Met him? I was raised by him," Shield replied vindicated. "He was like a father to me. That very day, he gave me one more test. Told me if I wanted to leave, all I had to do was ask."

"And you said-"

"I said hell no," Shield cut him off. "I was singled out of dozens, maybe hundreds, thousands of others. I was taken off the streets, and given warm food and a nice bed. Why the hell would I go back to being an urchin? He told me if I chose to stay, I could achieve more than I ever imagined in my wildest dreams...as cliched as that sounds. That I could could have money. Fame. Girls."

"I would've taken that," Felawa whispered to Tanaka behind her.

"But because I was so special, I told him I didn't care for any of that. Just like he wanted to hear."

"What?" Felawa replied aloud this time. "Why not?"

"What I told him...to be honest, I told him that I wanted respect. Yeah, I was a weird kid. Ever since I was little. I wanted people to look up to me. To have responsibility. To have the ability to make a difference in people's lives." He paused. "And you know what that frog said when he heard that? ...fucking congratulations." Shield cracked his neck. "He fucking congratulated me like I was a idiotic contestant that had just won a game show. And from that point on...he taught me everything I know. Gave me access to his files. The organization's assets. The entire network. Taught me what it meant to be an agent of the Shadow Broker. He'd set up tests, to see how I was progressing. To help mold me into what he wanted me to become."

"The next Broker," Alenko stated.

"He never told me...but I that's what I came to realize. Or hoped anyway. Why he invested so much of his time in me. Some fuckin' kid from the street. No identity, no money, no attachment to anyone. A nobody. And he was able to control practically every facet of my life. What I ate, who I talked to, what I watched at night. The only freedom I really got was in regards to his network. What I was able to request, how agents could get information for him and how I suggested it be done. And I liked it. I really did."

"So are you really telling us..._you're_ the current Shadow Broker?!" Felawa suddenly said in alarm.

"What? No!" Shield countered, looking at him like he was daft. "Why the hell would I be here right now if I was?"

"...oh...right."

"Keep going," Fantum told him.

Shield met his gaze head-on again, not betraying a single hint that it was all just another lie. That it was just another game. "But one day...when I entered his room...as I usually did, as I spent most of my days in it, standing at one of the consoles, pouring over all the information it would have available..." He seemed to wax nostalgic for a moment. Then he returned to the present. "Instead of the man I had come to know at the desk however...instead of the Salarian...that day...it was something else. Something I had never seen before."

"...What do you mean?" Fantum asked.

"It was an alien...but no associate race of the Citadel. It was gigantic...at first I thought it was a Krogan, but even Krogan..." He trailed off.

The group now stood where they were in silence, some with bated breath.

"It killed the Salarian. And took his place," Shield replied. "Several days before...an operative named Kechlu went rogue. He was ordered to be taken down...apparently knew too much. Ruthless. He had become reckless with the lives of other agents. So he was marked for liquidation. But apparently that wasn't enough. I'm sure the monstrosity in that room was Kechlu."

"What was it?" Fantum continued to drill him eagerly when she failed to say anything herself.

"I don't know what it was. But I barely escaped with my life when I found it sitting in his chair. I ran as fast as I could to the hanger and got a shuttle out before that thing could signal someone to stop me. I left...and I've never looked back since."

"But when did this all happen? How did you know about the Normandy's shakedown run? It happened a week before Eden Prime. It couldn't have been that recent. And then Saren's activity around Eden Prime. How did you know about that?" Kaidan asked again.

"Because before I left, I grabbed an access pass." He then slowly brought his hand up and tapped his noggin. "Right in here. It allows me to still access the Broker network. It's iffy on a lot of things. I actually don't get most channels. But the files I'm able to...I like to think I put them to good use."

"Convenient," Shepard remarked aloud for the first time since he started speaking.

"Yeah I guess," he admitted. "And I'll tell you that yeah, I have a lot of secrets. A lot of things I probably shouldn't know or share. But in regards to Saren...I'll tell you whatever's needed to take him down Shepard."

"Really."

"Yeah, which is why I'm telling you this. One of the places we were supposed to search was the Attican Beta. Udina mentioned Geth ships in the area right?"

"Were you-"

"Hiding this from you? No, I just got this update recently." Another lie. She could clearly see it this time on his face. "The planet's name is Feros. It's a Prothean ruin that was colonized by a company called...it was called..." He suddenly seemed as if he had just remembered, "Exogeni!"

_Feros..._

"Apparently Geth are closing in on that sector."

To her surprise however, she actually found her actually believing him this time around. His face had no indication that this was another lie. And there was no point in lying about this. Unless it was a trap. But even if it was...she would rather get this entire ordeal said and done as soon as possible.

"Joker." Shepard barked.

"Yes Commander?" he replied from the cockpit.

"...set a course to the Attican Beta. For a planet called Feros."

"Yes sir!"

Without a word, she walked out of the air lock, pushing the other marines out of her way.

"Shepard, wait."

She turned back around to Shield one last time. "What?"

"Now I'm not asking for you to take these cuffs off...but what I am asking is if you truly believe we need trust. Between the entire squad." He made a wide circular motion with his head.

"What are you talking about?"

"Garrus. I know you don't trust him, but he would be in debt to you, and hopefully that would erase any suspicions you have of him, if we just take a brief detour to help him with a problem nearby."

She begrudgingly asked next, "...what is it?"

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Agent Gellix**

/19:47/ Secure Comm Buoy #102563 / Encrypted / #3246 - AF - 666

Sender: Agent Gellix

Sir. There's been a...development in regards to my assignment. I did inform the Commander about our situation concerning Cerberus and their agenda. But she was stubborn. I didn't get the data. As you requested though, I did tell her about that man named Shield. And Agent Revenant recently got a transmission through to update me on what occurred when she confronted him. Even on an encrypted channel...I don't think it would be wise to send it. And...what Shield's claiming in it...you'll want to hear it.

/19:59/ Secure Comm Buoy #Unlisted / Encrypted / #EX5*- X&amp; \- *0D

You will be at the coordinates attached to this file at 15:00:00.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Happy 3rd Month Anniversary gang. Been pretty busy and I was afraid I wouldn't have been able to even publish a chapter this week. But things seemed to work out alright. Next week might be a similar situation however, so I'm sorry in advance if I can't get you guys your fix next week. I know how much you all love this story. Always glad to hear some people find it compelling. Anyways, thanks for reading guys. **

**In the Next Chapter: Experiments. And the Experimented...on. Your classic sci-fi short story...**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	24. Dead Doctors

"What the...oh my god, hahaha, ewwww." I looked at the doorway.

"Hey Rob."

Nothing.

"Rob?"

No answer.

"Rob!"

Yup, definitely ignoring me.

_..._

"ROOOOOOOOB-"

"What!?" Felawa finally shouted back, entering the room.

"Oh hey. What's up? Need something?" He sighed and begun to leave the room before I added an additional, "Oh, well, while you're here, you should take a look at this." I sat up and shifted in my bunk, dangling my legs over the side. I angled my arm shortly after so I could show him what was displayed on my omni-tool.

"Ah dude, what the hell!?" he yelled back jerking his head away.

"I know right?" I replied, glancing at the image one more time before closing it. "And that was just the cover. Can you imagine what was actually inside it? Fornax's Elcor issue. Twenty different poses of Elcor just-"

"Dude."

"Oh. Really? That bad? You telling me you've never seen a-"

"Rod...you know I can't be talking with you right now man."

"..._really?"_

"I'm sorry dude. But you heard Shepard's orders. I'm not allowed to 'fraternize' with..." he trailed off, scratching his ear. "...Rod. If you had just told the truth from the beginning dude, none of this-"

"If you don't want to talk, Fine. You can go back to standing outside the door and staring at the floor."

He lingered in the room for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh and leaving.

I just stayed where I was, sitting there on the edge of the bed. He didn't happen to be the only one giving me the silent treatment, though most of the others were doing it voluntarily. I suppose getting dragged around the ship in omni-cuffs lost me whatever cred I had. Most looked the other way when I passed them now, ignored me whenever I sat down next to them for lunch...some even gave me the stink eye. Being shunned by your peers...I'm not gonna lie, it kind of hurt. And as the ship's new pariah, I'm pretty sure I knew now how Garrus and Liara originally felt. And I'd talk to them about it too if they weren't also in on it.

It's not like half of them even knew what went down. All they saw was Shepard dragging me across the ship in cuffs, and that Felawa was assigned to monitor me afterwards. And that was half of the problem for me. Lack of privacy. Felawa had been permanently assigned by Shepard to be my personal babysitter. I couldn't take two steps without the guy trailing me. Although to be fair, if it wasn't for him, I might still have those omni-cuffs on...I mean, after lying to Shepard, I had only had them for another day before Shepard allowed Felawa to take them off, as he didn't want to spoon-feed me anymore. As in literally spoon feed me. Man was that degrading. But in that short time I was in them...

Everything I had gained was lost in a single moment. The freedom I had on the ship. The bonds I was making with the crew of the Normandy. What little respect I had garnered...gone. All gone. And as if all that wasn't enough, now I even had to contend with my own god damn imagination.

_There WERE a few inconsistencies in my story...like EVERY FUCKING THING THAT I SAID._

_Oh no Shepard, I totally work for the Broker. You gotta believe me. I was just a poor orphan taken from the hard streets of Earth. But I did so well on my SATs though that I got to be the Shadow Broker's protégé. His heir to be. Honest. And the reason I know all the things I do is because I have a chip implanted in my BRAIN that tells me them. _

_Good job Shield. Airtight Alibi. _

I literally face palmed. Then I moved my hand down to cover my mouth.

_It all just kind of flowed out of my mouth didn't it? The next thing after the next thing and...Dammit. I fucked up. I fucked up so bad. I mean...it's not like anyone could say I'm lying. Hell, I practically convinced myself with how well I was spinning that bullshit. But...god. I'm in so deep..._

_...How deep are you?_

_...I'm in so deep...even Adele can't roll in this._

Then the sound of my omni-tool resonated in my earpiece.

(Continuing Playtrack 89...Music by Artist Adele. Rolling in the Deep. (C) 2010 XL Recordings Ltd.)

* * *

Adele - Rolling in the Deep (2:55) [Voice so rich MMM. Who don't love themselves some Adele.]

* * *

_What_.

_(I can't help feeliiiing...  
We could have had it alllllllll)_

_God Dammit._

_(*You're gonna wish, you never had met me*  
Rolling in the deeeeeeeeep-  
*Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep*)_

I quickly powered the omni-tool's interface back on and opened the application.

_(Could have had it alllllll-)_

The song abruptly stopped after I punched in the commands.

_...I really need to figure out how to stop it from doing that._

I gave up on the idea though after several minutes of messing with the app's settings. The feature wasn't mentioned in the manual. But in any case...Adele was right. I could have had it all.

_But we just HAD to have a cool back story to get everyone to like me didn't we. And now like in the song, tears are gonna fall. My tears._

I laid back down on the bunk bed as I began to actually debate the necessity of the lie.

_Well...I didn't necessarily say I worked for the Shadow Broker because it was kewl...I did it because how the hell else would I have been able to use my friggin omniscience? I mean, these motherfuckers have still been asking me how I know all this shit every time I open my god damn mouth. _

It was an obligatory decision I had to make. A risk I had to take.

_And was it really even a risk in the first place? How the hell was I supposed to know the Broker would even be aware of me, let alone actually care? ...I couldn't have._

But now I could be sure as hell that the Broker would only continue his meddling, especially with what information I had just relayed to Shepard. Telling her about his original alias as Operative Kechlu and taking the original Broker's place. Or semi-original. I doubt the guy he killed was the first.

_Anyways, I could be sure that when he hears about all that, he'll be piiiiiissed._

Although I should be glad I only told them about that. It was so hard to resist telling her more. How he was an eight-eyed Yahg from Parnack. About his little ship on Hagalaz, somewhere in the Shadow Sea. Although whether Hagalaz was a planet or solar system, I didn't know. I just remembered the name. And why might you ask, hadn't I told her all this at the time?

_Because A...we ain't got time to take him down. We still need to come for Saren first. And we haven't done Feros...or Noveria...or...oh my god. We haven't done anything to investigate Saren since Therum. What the shit!?_

You could diddle around all day in the game but if this was real time...

_We could actually fail to stop him...couldn't we? Run out of time? He ends up finding the Conduit first because all we do are side missions and then whoopsie, guess the Reapers are already here? _

_...would that even be my fault? Shepard's the one giving the orders to do them, wasting our time...although the only reason why is because she wasn't even given specific planets to investigate. Just entire star clusters where Geth were supposedly spotted. How the hell would she know where to look? She wasn't even given a specific system!_

_So...it WOULD be my fault because I knew where they all are. Dammit. I mean...hell. That was one of the only reasons why I had been able to talk my way out of being locked in the air...lock. Telling her about the Geth on Feros. _

The down low on the Thorian and Exogeni's fucked up experiment had still been withheld though. Because if I told her about them...what would happen?

_Would she immediately try to talk to Fai Dan about it? Would the thrall attack her immediately or just deny it? ...well he'd definitely attack us if we tried to move the cargo thing off the hole to the Thorian's lair. If she even believed me. And then since we ignored the Exogeni bridge, we wouldn't have the special gas grenades to subdue them..._

I wasn't about to have Shepard slaughter innocent civilians. Although hell, she'd probably kill them anyway even if the grenades were an option.

_Dammit. Another thing to worry about._

I massaged my head, turning on my side.

_And then you still had Exogeni and the Geth ship to worry about. So that would be why it's probably best to let it play out as it did in the game...and OH RIGHT. And B, same reason as the Shadow Broker! If we, by the smallest chance, did decide to take him out this early...what would Liara angst over for the next two years? Who would...I guess that's really all he does in game. Lair of the Shadow Broker. Although he is responsible for Wilson killing everyone during the prologue of ME2. Something we probably want to prevent...although..._

They were Cerberus. And who knows how things would fly if Shepard didn't wake up when she did.

_Would she have been awake in time for Freedom's Progress if Wilson didn't do that? And if we did stop the Broker...would Liara learn about whoever else would try to steal Shepard's body? Stop them in time? IF anyone steals Shepard's dead body...YO, why would there even be a body in the first place?! Oh dammit, do I have to weigh the decision of letting her die too?!_

Too many damn variables. One change and bloop, the one thing I've got going for me is gone. Knowledge about a non-existent plot would be of zero worth.

_Although...ah we've been here before dammit. What's the point of having all this info if you're not going to use it!? _

_..._

_Because of the unknown. Shepard stops the Reapers by the series of events in game. I'm the loose cannon. I was the one who could affect the outcome. Even if she didn't believe half, or hell, any of the stuff I could tell her, it could still affect the plot. Especially if some of it started coming true. It could affect her psyche, what she believes, cause her to make a different choice not available in the game. A decision that results in the Reapers winning. _

_...But by that logic..._

I let the thought simmer for a moment.

_I was the one who told her about Feros. And if there was a timer for this game...I at least know we should take down Saren before 2184...then my intel would actually be valuable. She'd need the information to stop him. And in that case I SHOULD stick around._

I stared at the dark ceiling of the bunk room. I began to pick up the faint sound of snoring, coming from two beds over.

_...where the hell was I even going with this?_

_...you...were...weighing the backstory._

_Oh right. The backstory..._

Then I snapped back to my current situation.

_Thinking too far ahead. Mass Effect 1. That's it. Get through it with everything as great as possible. Help Shepard find the Conduit. Stop Saren. That's it._

Then the main hole in my plan came to light.

_...__Why don't I just tell her it's on Ilos? __Say I could tell what the place in my vision was. Liara could mind meld with us and agree. Or not. It didn't really matter. We could skip Feros, Noveria, and...Virmire._

My heart sank realizing I hadn't put any thought to that.

_So yeah, definitely want to do that. What reasons could I..._

Then I realized it was the same situation as Hagalaz. I didn't know where Ilos would exactly be.

_In the Terminus systems but...which specific system? Oh Dammit. And the whole entire point of Noveria was learning how to get to Ilos. Where the Mu relay is. So we'd at least have to do that._

Then the train kept going, and it didn't seem to have a caboose.

_And then Saren would still have a Krogan cure for the genophage on Virmire. So even if all this went down, we did Noveria, found Ilos, went into the Conduit...LOL. It'd be pointless because it'd just get us to the damn Citadel. Which we can fly to whenever. Unless he went through, it'd be...pointless. In any case, there would still be that cure on Virmire too..._

_But would it matter?_

_...yes. If Wrex or Eve aren't heading the Krogan, then it'd be a very bad idea. _

_...Mass Effect 1. Focus on Mass Effect 1._

I sighed, dropping whatever semblance of a plan I had.

_Just go to Feros. Get through it. Mention Noveria. Get through it. And as for Virmire...we'll think of something._

As of right now though, Shepard wasn't going to let me be on the ground team...anywhere. So I still had to plan on how I would even fix that. And decide if I even wanted too. In fact, I don't know why I was worrying about all this when I wasn't even sure if I was still going to be allowed to stay on the ship or not.

I raised my arm closer to my face and turned my omni-tool's haptic interface back on, deciding to bide my time doing something else.

_I'll just think of something once we get there. _

The one thing I could be grateful for that came out of Shepard's-

_Validated._

-witch hunt was Kaidan scanning my omni-tool afterwards to check if it had any surveillance programs installed on it. Apparently he just found a shit ton of malware, none of it being what they were looking for. It didn't really surprise me with how shitty my omni-tool's processing power was compared to everyone else's. It took me ten minutes to load a leaked video of Shepard punching out Khalisah when it only took Garrus ten seconds...Anyways. Shepard told Kaidan to remove them all just to be sure none of them had any data mining software embedded in them. She was really thorough on checking the rest of my stuff too.

In any case, once he did, my omni-tool was practically new. It had faster download speeds, no more adware or popups, and I found that the extranet was much, much, MUCH better than I actually thought it was with all this done. Instead of the handful of songs from the 20th century I had found before, I now found entire archives of them. On a hunch, I searched for how to mod your gun again, and instead of a thousand ads this time around, I got videos containing actual demonstrations (not that they helped). I even looked up Shepard's name again for funsies, and found that the search returned a wide variety of information on her. Instead of recent news articles that were there because their news sources payed an obscene amount for adspace, I got generic personal information about her and even hits for military actions she was involved in.

So this was what I had been preoccupied with for the last two days after the confrontation. Downloading new music. Watching new movies from the future. All that other ish. All thanks to my new and improved extranet connection, and its ever present online advertising and connection limiters gone. I was it like switching your provider from ClearWire to Google Fiber.

However, another half-hour of lying in bed and I was bored again. Deciding it was long overdue, I hopped off the bed and headed towards the bathroom. And as soon as I left the bunk room, surprise surprise, Felawa was tailing me. Until I entered the bathroom that is. I was relieved that he didn't take his job _too_ seriously. After hanging a towel over the curtain rack, I hopped into the small shower. By the time I was done, I was hoping Shepard would be back from taking care of Saleon. I was disappointed in not accompanying them for that, but it was the price I paid for my mistake. As the warm water began to trickle against my back, I realized why I couldn't just talk to Shepard about it anyway though. Inform her about it. Prep her for it.

The Thorian that is.

_Ooh...could we actually become thralls if we waste too much time?!_

Another mind fuck.

_...dammit. This sucks._

* * *

"Commander, our docking tubes have just locked. The Captain of the SSV Somme is granting us permission to board," he spoke into the intercom.

"Tell him to have a party ready for the exchange."

Joker widened his eyes in surprise, craning his neck over his shoulder in response to the voice. He didn't realize she was already on the bridge. "Aye, aye Commander!" He turned his attention back toward the ship's controls, punching in the commands to open the air lock. He could hear a loud hiss escape from it as it opened, the inside of the chamber and docking tube equalizing with the interior of the bridge.

He then swiveled his chair around to face the group standing behind Shepard. The Commander herself was gazing into the docking tube connecting the two ships, leaving Kaidan and Hector the responsibility of watching over the guy they were trading off.

Originally, the mission was to save an endangered scientist down below. How Shepard had interpreted that as murder him, Joker had no idea. She probably had a good reason though. The man that the landing party had brought back up currently stood next to Emerson, clad in tannish armor. He had it pegged as the Assassin model made by Elkoss Combine. Which he only knew from how many times Jenkins had shown him it in that damn catalog.

_Damn had Jenkins been enthusiastic about that gear...good ol' Rick._

He scratched his beard reminiscing about him when Shepard gave a sudden salute to someone inside the docking tube.

"Commander," a voice resonated from it. "Is that him?"

"Yes it is," she replied, turning around and motioning to the new guy. "Toombs, these men will take it from here. You'll be brought to Arcturus Station, where you can get the help you need."

"I don't need any help. Not anymore," the man replied.

"Nonetheless, we'd still like to learn what happened to you...Corporal," the disembodied voice echoed from the docking tube.

He began to reluctantly trudge into it, towards the voice. But then he stopped, and looked at Shepard with his mouth slightly agape, seeming like he wanted to say something else. If he had though, the man named Toombs opted not to, deciding rather to just turn back around and continue onward.

It was at this point Joker noticed Shield running up the CiC toward them all.

"Take care Commander," the marine inside the tube said one more time.

"You too," she replied before turning to Shield who had just stopped moments later in front of her, bent over heaving. His hair seemed slick, face covered in perspiration. Or what looked like it. Either he got winded on the short trip up or had just gotten out of the shower. Then Joker noticed Rob jogging through the CiC after him.

"What do you want Shield?"

"COMMANDER?! COMMANDER!"

Everyone jerked their heads toward the voice.

"Get him out of here!" Shepard shouted.

"I'm trying to Commander!" the marine inside the docking mechanism responded.

"COMMAN-"

Joker pushed a button on his console, closing the airlock and silencing the lunatic. Everyone stood in silence for a moment shocked by the turn of event.

"Uh, Comman...Shepard...shouldn't we have seen what he wanted?" Emerson finally asked, breaking it.

"I wasn't in the mood to deal with his baggage anymore," Shepard responded, obviously annoyed by the ordeal. "And I'm sure as hell not in the mood to deal with you," she now replied, turning to Shield.

"I just needed to talk to you about Feros," he replied, raising his hands in defense. Then he pointed one of them at the airlock. "...but who was that?"

"A former Alliance Corporal by the name of Toombs," Emerson replied.

"And none of your business," Shepard finished.

"Toombs?" he asked in surprise. "I thought you guys were investigating Dr. Saleon's ship for Garrus."

"We did," Emerson replied again.

"What? When?"

"I think we docked with the MSV Fedele at nineteen hundred yesterday," Kaidan told him this time.

"That Salarian Dr. Saleon was making these grotesque zombies as part of his experiments on it. And then when we found him, the guy had the gall to say he didn't have anything to do with them!" Emerson added. "Even though he had one lying right behind him on the operating table!"

"You're both dismissed," Shepard quickly followed, cutting off the conversation. The two soldiers decided to nod in response and left the bridge. Felawa who had just joined the group when she gave the command, had a look of dejection, and ended up following the two marines back down to the CiC too. Before addressing Shield again, the Commander shot a glare at Joker.

"Don't mind me," he let slip as he swiveled his seat back around to the ship's bow.

"...So what do you want?" he heard Shepard ask Shield immediately after.

Before Shield could respond, Joker's attention was drawn to a flashing light on the Normandy's controls.

"Hey Commander, we've got an incoming call!"

"I think I can give a guess as to who," she replied.

Glancing at the transponding signal of the message, he could tell it wasn't coming from the Fifth Fleet. "It's not Hackett Commander."

"Put it through," Joker heard her immediately shoot back. The sound of her clomping boots indicated she was already making her way to the galaxy map. He could hear the footsteps of Shield quietly following her.

* * *

"Captain?" she replied shocked. Shepard had no idea that he planned to call or why he had. Although that wasn't exactly true, as she did have _some_ guesses. But the Commander quickly recomposed herself regardless. "To what do I owe the honor sir?"

"We've just received an update on Saren's movements," Anderson responded.

"Where."

"The first Geth sightings reported after Eden Prime were in the Horsehead Nebula. We sent a group in to the region to follow up on them. Our eyes in the area finally spotted the Geth and caught up with their ships a week ago. They followed them through ten star systems before the Geth frigates they were tailing finally noticed and turned on them."

"What happened?"

"Our boys crippled the Geth ships. Boarded and cleared them. Besides a few destroyed electronics though, nothing else was found inside them. We believe the troops that the ships were carrying were already dropped off somewhere before the skirmish. And the last system they passed through was the Pax System."

"The Pax System?"

"You heard me. And that's not all Shepard. We've also gotten intel that an Asari Matriarch was recently spotted on Noveria; a planet that just so happens to be located in that particular star system. I'll give you three guesses as to who."

"Benezia."

"That's right. We believe she's there on Saren's behalf, and with an army of Geth at her back, there's no telling what she could do."

"Isn't Noveria a developed world?" she asked. "Where are all the reports of the Geth being there?"

"That's the odd thing. There are none. And to top that off, we can't investigate into it any further. The planet's privately chartered by the NDC holding company. They don't allow anyone other than their corporate sponsors to enter Port Hanshan. You have to be given special clearance to dock there."

"Or have the authority of a Council Spectre," Shepard concluded.

"My thoughts exactly. Shepard...even if you already had other leads, I just thought you should know. I don't think I have to say again that Saren is a mad man, and that anyone associated with him has to be stopped...of all the people that could be on this case, I'm glad it's you. I know you won't let us down. We'll talk next time you're on the Citadel. Over and out."

She ignored the eyes of those around her as she immediately began contemplating their next move.

_So we do have a choice. Noveria or Feros. One suggested by Captain Anderson, where the right hand of Saren was currently known to be, and is looking for something with an army of Geth at her back. And on the other hand, we have a place given by someone who's every word is suspect, where an unknown quantity of Geth may or may not be heading for_.

"Pressly," she addressed the man next to her, "Draw up a course for Noveria. Joker, take us back to the Kepler Relay."

"But Commander..." Joker started. "Our current position in Kepler is just a day away tops from Feros. Noveria will take at least-"

"You have your order Lieutenant. We're headed for Noveria. End of story."

"...aye aye Commander."

Shepard pushed off the galaxy map's railings and turned around to face Shield who was standing at the bottom of its steps.

"So, what did you want to tell me about Feros again?"

"...never mind," he replied staring at the ground. After a silent beat, he began walking away. And seeing this, Felawa jumped up from where he was sitting and followed Shield down the stairs.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Cerberus on Ontarom**

/12:15/ Secure Comm Buoy #15895 / Encrypted / #1256 - DP - 101

Sender: Operative Caracosa

I have recently come into contact with a new source that has caused me to re-evaluate the 'Toombs Vendetta'. I learned that a Cerberus military cell was recently sent to the planet of Ontarom and landed at these coordinates attached to the file. If you're familiar with the contents of entry 17-AQ59251-18, you'll be aware that a remote science facility is located there, operated by one Doctor Wayne Gretzky. I believe these factors indicate that Doctor Wayne is the last missing scientist who worked on Alliance's Akuze project, and would give him his ties (and why he is of interest) to Cerberus. The Entry 25-ER18758-87 contains information on the recent escape of one Corporal Collin Toombs from the station Cerberus designates as 'the Depot'. We had originally believed that this man was responsible for the recent string of deaths of those tied to the Akuze project. We knew at what time Corporal Toombs had landed at Doctor Wayne's facility, which coincidentally was not minutes before Cerberus' Commando cell did. Use of a A-59 Mantis gunship to transport these commandos lead us to believe they were already planet side before making their approach.

In light of this new information, I believe that Toombs did NOT in fact, kill these scientists. For them to land four minutes after Toombs landed without being seen, the Cerberus Commandos would have to have been grounded on the planet before they approached, meaning their proximity to the facility would have had to already been extremely close. Another source tells us that witnesses reported Toombs being reluctant to kill Doctor Wayne when he had him at gun point. This behavior would be quite odd however if Corporal Toombs had already killed the other four scientists who had worked on the project beforehand. The fact that the Cerberus militants weren't already inside the facility lying in wait for Toombs indicates that they were never sent to protect the scientist. This is supplemented by the fact that they also only deployed to the facility after Toombs had arrived. This leads us to the conclusion that the Commandos were likely there not to protect, but to catch and silence both men. If this conclusion were true, then it would be Cerberus in fact who would be silencing these scientists that worked on the Akuze project, using the last remaining member as bait for it's other remaining loose end.

Mind, this is all conjecture, as there is no solid proof (as there never is with Cerberus) to prove this, but consider this: How did Toombs learn of Doctor Wayne's location? And if Doctor Wayne was not a member of the Akuze project, why were there Cerberus Commandos present in the area? What was the objective given then to the Cerberus commandos there in the first place? Even if my assumption is accurate, this only means a further analysis of the Akuze project is necessary, as the current results documented in it don't nearly necessitate the extremity of Cerberus' actions to keep it secret. The current status of the Cerberus Commando cell however is now defunct. One Alliance soldier by the name of Commander Jane Shepard landed in the time frame this was all occurring, destroying the entire Cerberus cell present, taking Corporal Toombs back into Alliance care, and killing Doctor Wayne herself. And this necessitates the further question...how did this Commander Shepard know what was occurring at this time? From where did she learn this operation was taking place? This is an issue I believe for Agent Gellix to further address.

I'll continue to provide updates on this scenario and whatever other events I continue to find pertaining to it. The Kepler Verge will continue to be kept under my close supervision.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**I'll see if I can get another chapter out this week for this one's lateness. I apologize, things got pretty busy last week. Half of this chapter is Shield monologuing, so I'll definitely try to get things ramped back up by next chapter. Character development is important. Not that you'll find any here. And since I've forgotten to reply...**

**Lanny:** As he still is and probably will be. Dude doesn't know how to stay out of trouble.

**Black Humor:** What you call unlucky, I call...no yeah, he's had a pretty rough time so far.

**Mikey:** That's actually a really good alibi. Unfortunately, Shield isn't that smart and went in a totally different and nonsensical direction. At this point, he's already dug himself halfway to China, and I can only assume that he's hoping (by continuing to lie) to dig himself out on the other side safe and sound.

**WolfMan**: Our _Favorite_ character? That might be a stretch :). He'll certainly be in the doghouse following this turn of events.

**GrimAdventures:** Well to be fair, the Broker's interested in a LOT of things. Of course, it's still bad news broker for Shield.

**FrankTrigg: **Thank you for the kind words. I'm extremely glad to that you find the story enjoyable! As for the stats, no you're correct, they haven't been mentioned since Therum or what skills he placed them in. In retrospect, I probably should have displayed them in Chapter 18. I can promise they'll be mentioned fairly shortly.

**FenDweller:** OH you know it is. And it'll just keep getting thicker from here! [that's what she said]

**In the Next Chapter: The Boys are back. And they're looking for trouble. **

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	25. Misinformed, Misled, and Misunderstood

The thought had been eating away at me from the time Shepard first told me that they had already taken care of Saleon. I had wanted to go on the mission, see how it might turn out, help explain what they might have just seen...but after the..._incident, _I wasn't really in the position to be asking things from Shepard. So I didn't, and they had left to complete the mission while I was sleeping.

In all honesty, they probably just shot up the mad scientist as soon as Garrus had seen him. And that's exactly what had me worried over the last few days. I didn't know how the scenario had turned out. What decision Shepard had made, what impact it might be having on Garrus. I mean, you had to admit, the dude was impressionable; he was molded by whatever lessons you gave him in the game. And honestly, out of all the people on the ship, I probably felt my most comfortable around him. Which is surprising, to me at least, since he looks the least relatable of them all. I mean he's a freaking alien for god's sake. But regardless of that fact, I've spent most of my time aboard the Normandy (when I wasn't lounging in the bunk room) hanging out with that Turian in particular. And by default, Tali, since they were always working on something in the garage together.

Which was why I guess I was kind of worrying about how the guy was coping with the death of his longtime nemesis. It was an issue that most likely ate away at his conscious every moment while he was still on the Citadel, lurking at the back his mind every day he went to his office at C-Sec. Just addressing it so suddenly might be hard to cope with. So it's reasonable to say that I wanted to see how the guy was faring. But it was still same old, same old. Still the ship's pariah. Still he red-headed step-child of the Normandy. Sit down at the cafeteria table and everyone else gets up sort of deal. At least the petty ones did any way. It was in one of these scenarios I tried for the first and only time to talk to him (or any of the crew members since _the incident_ for that matter) about it.

I finally caught Garrus the next day after Shepard had switched course to Noveria. He was sitting at the cafeteria table, in the middle of eating some funky-looking gangly thing. I had woken up fairly early that day, for no reason in particular, and just happened to spot him sitting alone. As soon as I started to approach him though, he turned his head slight enough so that I could see the corner of his eye. And behind his blue visor, was a narrow slit, barely visible. But in just that small window he gave me, the Turia could still convey that he didn't want anything to do with me. You could see a real hatred burning in them. Real contempt for the person he was staring at. That stopped me in my tracks. I took that food tray and turned right around, right back to the bunk room. And that was the last time I had attempted to talk to ANYONE since_ the incident_. I didn't even bug Felawa anymore.

But I honestly had had enough of it. We were hours away from Noveria -or that's what Joker had said over the cafeteria's intercom at least- and I realized that even if I was able to convince Shepard to take me groundside, what would it matter? Everyone else was still expecting me to put a knife in their backs at the first opportunity apparently. I was now a known liar. Who lied. On multiple occasions. What reason did they have to trust me? Why would they ever?

What I had to do in addition to swaying Shepard was convince the others that I was trustworthy too. Trustworthy enough anyway. If they were expecting me to betray them once we were on the ground, we'd never get anywhere. While one could say then that I should just leave things to them...I couldn't. I suppose I'm a bit of a control freak, and to be completely honest, I'd be bored out of my mind staying here, knowing what was going on below. So it wasn't a real option for me. I HAD to go down with Shepard to Noveria. And honestly, creating trust within the 'squad' seemed like a big priority too. Apparently, the team had enough trouble cooperating together as they did now. Emerson spilled the deets on what had occurred on Binthu when I sat down with him at lunch, back before we hit Nepheron. One distraction and the entire team's attack plan was apparently derailed. The entire mission almost bungled. Or so he claimed.

Regardless of his story's veracity, everyone DID need to trust each other. Needed to work together as a single unit. As one body. One. Efficient. Killing machine. A machine that never missed a beat. Heart beat. The heart beats of those who crossed us. Forcing those who did to submit. A force of unstoppable reckoning. A force so powerful that-

_Okay, I think we get the point._

Anyways, we'd never get through the rest of the game if we couldn't. Which led to the reason why I was currently exiting the elevator into the garage, and walking toward the Turian who was currently atop the Mako. Vakarian was laying across its mass accelerator, messing with the wiring of it or something. I couldn't quite see what he was doing from where I was...not that I would even know if I could. And as usual, Tali was typically standing near the console below him, tapping away on it. And I could overhear their conversation as soon as I had entered the garage.

"If only I could calibrate this thing as well as my rifle..." Garrus grumbled from atop.

"I'm sure Shepard wouldn't mind if it's a little off. It certainly won't matter when she's firing it at an armature-class unit," she replied looking up to him.

"You'd be surprised. If the shot's even a single meter off when fired on a mission - that could be the difference between a pile of ash and Saren activating the conduit."

"I suppose...hey Garrus?"

"Yeah?"

"...if you don't mind me asking...how do you feel about hunting Saren?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hunting a Turian I mean."

Garrus took a moment from what he was doing to look down at her. "I'm glad I've gotten the chance to. Saren is either a traitor or a madman. Both a slight against my people. Taking him down would restore the good name of Turians everywhere."

"Oh," she replied taking a minute to pause. "...things are different on the Flotilla. There are so few of us. We are expected to be loyal, even when it is difficult. Going rogue is almost unheard of."

I was close enough to lean against the back of the Mako now, waiting for my turn to talk. I didn't want to rudely interrupt them just yet. Though I guess some popcorn would have been nice.

"Although that's because of the Geth isn't it," Garrus responded. "Your people can't afford civil disputes. Not when the Geth threaten the existence of your entire race. But the quarians endangered more than just themselves when they were created. I hope your people are properly contrite, Tali." He seemed to say the last part teasingly. Although it probably wasn't really the best topic to joke about.

"What!" she suddenly boomed furious. "Hope that we're _contrite_?! You don't think we know the consequences of our actions? That were not aware of these suits we have to wear? That we don't realize we lost our homeworld to the Geth every day of our lives aboard the Flotilla!?"

"Wait. Tali. I didn't mean-"

"Are the Turians properly _contrite_ for releasing the Genophage upon the Krogan?!"

"Well...you're assuming that sterilizing them was a mistake..."

I glanced across the garage to find Wrex absent from his usual hangout. Thank god.

"Ugh!"

Tali spun around and marched away from the vehicle. Furiously. Although it was kind of hard to tell with the suit and all. Garrus now sat upright atop the Mako, utterly baffled by the sudden turn of events. Several seconds passed before he noticed me below him. Then he went back to tinkering with the Mako's cannon.

"Garrus."

"What do you want," he said without looking back down.

Now that I was standing there though, my mind drew a blank. "Uh-"

_What was I planning to say? _

"-what was that about?" I just ended up asking tactlessly. Garrus seemed to pause for a moment, slightly turning his head to look at me. Then he returned to poking around the Mako's armament, choosing to just ignore me instead. I waited there for a couple more moments hoping he was just finishing something up. But I gave up after five full minutes passed. "The Silent Treatment? Really?"

Nothing.

"Garrus."

Zip.

"Garrus!"

Nada.

"GARR-"

"SHUT UP!" Ashley yelled across the room.

I looked in her direction and gave a smile and quick wave. Then I turned my eyes back to the Turian who just continued to mess with the Mako's gun.

"Garrus."

"I don't think he wants to talk dude," Felawa said, still standing behind me as usual.

"Shut up Felawa," I retorted. "Why don't you give me some space. I'm not running off anywhere anytime soon," I added motioning to the garage around us. "Think you can go talk to Dan about getting supplies or...something until I'm done?"

He scratched his neck, looking around cautiously, before deciding to just take my advice and walk away. And with that out of the way, I returned my attention to Garrus.

"...I can understand why you, all of you, are angry with me alright? I lied to you. Lied to all of you...but what I don't understand is why the hell you all still are. Mad that is. I mean I told Shepard the truth." _Nope._ "I laid it all out in the open for her this time, alright?" _Lies._ "The ONLY reason why I even lied in the first place though was to protect you guys from it. The truth that is." _You did it to protect yourself you selfish bastard._ "Garrus. If you knew the reason why I did what I did, then you'd agree with me that-"

He suddenly landed right before me and pointed a talon toward my face. "What I _know_ is that you sold us out. Lied to Shepard. Put our whole mission in jeopardy-"

"What? I-"

"-And that Shepard still kept you around after it. If you ask me, we should have left you on the last back-water station we came across. You betrayed us all to the Broker and still got off scot-free. Just because-"

"Betrayed you to the Broker? What the _hell_ are you talking about."

The Turian's tirade suddenly pumped its brakes. "You've been feeding the Broker reports and files that Shepard's been sending to Alliance Command."

"...What!? No! Where the hell did you hear that!?" I asked belligerently, looking at him like he was daft.

"I...you work for the Broker don't you?"

"Well...I mean... that's what I've been fibbing about, yes...wait, so no. It's a long story."

"What-"

"No, I don't work for the Broker."

"...You don't?"

"No. I don't."

"Wait," he said, holding out his claws to me. "If you weren't selling us out to him, then why the hell did Shepard apprehend you several days ago?"

I'm sure I looked as confused as he did now. "...Shepard didn't tell you?"

"No. Serviceman Tanaka told us what happened several hours later in the mess hall. Said you were giving the Broker vital intelligence on our mission. Stealing Alliance intel."

"Bullshit!" I responded angrily. "The hell I did!"

"But then why did Shepard take-"

"It was because the Broker told her that I didn't really work for him. That I was...lying to you guys about who I was."

"Then why did Tanaka say what he did?"

_Why the hell did he?_

"No idea," I responded truthfully.

Garrus eyed me suspiciously before asking his next question. "But that just begs the question...what are you really doing here then?"

"I..." I took a pause. For a second, I really contemplated it. Telling him the truth. That I had no idea who I really was. What I was doing. Where I even really was. That I'm apparently freakin' insane and imagining that I'm in a video game. That and all the other cliches.

But in the end, there was only one thing I was really here to do. I wasn't here for myself. I wasn't here to clear my own conscience. I was here to make sure we succeeded. That we succeeded in bringing down Saren. Though it was probably just to sate my own satisfaction to say that I took a part in the story. Regardless, we could only do that in the end with trust. Which I could only regain through one way. Which was ironically, by telling a lie. "I can't. It's the whole reason why I lied to Shepard on being an agent of the Shadow Broker in the first place."

Garrus scoffed. "Of course." He began to turn back around.

"It's because I knew who he was before he became the Broker." That re-piqued his interest in the conversation. "I was in the organization, and I learned something I wasn't supposed to. So he tried to have me killed over it. I left before he could and never looked back...I didn't tell you guys because I didn't want to put you on the Broker's hit list too."

"...really?"

"Really."

We each stood there beside the Mako, silent.

"...Was that the only reason why...is that the reason why everyone's been giving me shit? Because they think I'm a traitor?"

"Yes. I believe so."

"Oh shit..." A good amount of time passed before the next question was asked. "Do you actually believe me Garrus?" I looked him in the eyes as I asked. Not that I could discern his answer from them or anything. His face was unreadable. I did it rather as a way to build trust. Try to establish with him that I was being honest.

"...I do."

I kind of felt shitty for lying straight to his face like that...but to get the job done...

"So...you aren't still mad then?"

"Oh no, I'm still very disappointed that you lied to us Shield. When I asked you what those guys wanted outside of Flux? They were working for the Shadow Broker then, weren't they?"

_Was he still on about that-_

"-you lied straight to my face. You can't possibly expect me to trust you again after that."

_Damn._

I looked down at the floor. "But!" I looked back up with the word. "I understand why you did. I guess in your position...I suppose I might have done the same."

"I'll take that," I said smiling back. "...thanks Garrus."

"Just no more lies from here on out," he said extending his claws to me. I took them in my hand and shook.

"I'll try," I said smirking. His piercing glare told me he wasn't too amused by the response. "Anyways...it looks like I have some explanations to make...to everyone."

"Yeah. I can't imagine why the Serviceman told us that story," Garrus now thought aloud next.

"Me neither," I replied.

"I guess we'll have to ask him another time then. Right now, I should probably get back to work," Garrus said, turning his attention back to the Mako's gun. "I was just in the middle of some calibrations when you stopped by."

"Before you get back to that," I replied just as he was beginning to climb back atop. "Do you need me to talk to Tali for you? She seemed pretty upset."

"What? I...don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, I was just about to talk to her about this next. So you know what, I'll be sure to mention you were sorry when I talk to her."

"Shield wait-"

"Alright cool. I'm sure she'll be thrilled. Nice talk. See you Garrus!"

I pivoted around and began speed walking to engineering. I could hear the Turian let out a sigh behind me. And Felawa's footsteps as he saw me walking away.

* * *

She took in a deep breath, slowly letting the air fill her lungs. Then she slowly counted up as she held her breath.

_One. Two. Three._

She exhaled, letting the air finally escape. Shepard repeated the exercise twice more, calming herself. Not much else did these days.

They would land on Noveria soon. Confront Saren's ally and his Geth. Maybe even the Turian himself. Shepard suddenly found herself shuddering with excitement just thinking about it. The possible confrontation. Then she cursed, realizing she had just lost her calm. They always taught in ICT that one should steel their nerves, clear the mind before beginning an operation. But that was one of the few lessons that had never really took. Then the elevator doors slid open to reveal Felawa running across the garage floor.

"What the hell are you doing Private?" Then doing a double take, she added, "Where's Shield?!"

"Oh," Felawa said, suddenly stopping himself, face full of shock. "He just went into engineering. I was just-"

"I said don't let him out of your sight Private. Find him."

"Yes ma'am!" he replied, giving a salute. Then he realized he was still just standing there like an idiot, and went back to bolting toward engineering. Shepard just covered her face in response.

_I can't even trust him to watch one person. I need to pass guard duty to Raymond._

After the private had left, Shepard continued onward to where she had been initially headed. She stopped just several feet shy of the weapons bench, now noticing that the Chief was talking to someone on her console.

"-Oh before I go, how's it going with what's his name? We saw him on the news here. He's cuuuute. Oh, looks like you have company. Later sis."

Click.

In response to that comment, Ash stiffened and slowly turned around. "Please tell me you didn't just hear that."

"I assume that was your sister?"

"Until I get home and kill her...yeah that was Sarah, the youngest. But I'm guessing you didn't come by to eavesdrop...sir. What's up?"

Shepard placed a hand on her hip before speaking. "I came down to see how your progress was going with maintenance." Ashley raised an eyebrow, seeming to ask why. "We're due to arrive at Noveria in t-minus thirty."

"I heard over the comm...but thirty?"

"That's what the bridge monkeys are telling me," Shepard responded.

"Can't wait," the marine responded, hefting the lancer off the bench. "It _has_ been a long while since I've killed one of those synthetic bastards." She looked through the scope of gun, aiming at the floor, pretending to see something through its sight. Then she looked back up to Shepard furrowing her brow. "Who else is coming with us?"

"Our usual team. Kaidan, Emerson, Wrex, the rest."

Ashley folded her arms now. Apparently Shepard hadn't actually answered her question. "Including the doctor?"

"If you mean Liara, then yes, including the doctor," Shepard replied warily.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Bringing T'Soni I mean."

Shepard returned the marine's stare. "I'm guessing you're still worried whether or not we can trust her."

"Matriarch Benezia is her mother Shepard! Are you sure she won't turn on us given the chance?"

The Chief's worry was well-warranted. Besides Shield, Liara_ would_ be the next one to most likely turn on them. Shepard would entirely agree with Williams if it hadn't been for all the times she's talked to the Asari after Therum. Liara's intentions to help them seemed entirely pure. And Shepard rarely made a poor judgement of character.

"Chief. If you talked with her, you'd know that she had no knowledge of what her mother was up to or what she was doing. And she's not lying when she said she wanted to help. I don't think she's even capable of it."

"Aliens are hard to read Commander. That might just be part of the act," the marine replied. Shepard returned her stare. "But even if what the Doctor said was true, when the time actually comes, when T'Soni actually sees her mother...how do we know she won't switch sides? That she'll actually be able to do what's necessary?"

She didn't.

"If it comes to that...and she doesn't come through, then I assure you Williams that I'll be the first to subdue her. And I appreciate your concerns. But you need to trust my judgement."

"Of course Commander, I-"

"I'll allow it here, off the books, but I can't have my subordinates second-guessing my decisions while we're on the field. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

Shepard glanced down to the Kessler on the bench. She picked it up and began examining it. "...we might run into Saren when we're down there."

"I've thought about that Commander."

"If we do, we could end it all today. Saren. The Conduit. The Reapers." Out of the corner of her eye, Shepard noticed that the last part made the marine look skeptical. "Hmph. You don't believe it either do you."

"About what?"

"The Reapers," Shepard responded sternly.

With a sigh, Ashley decided to lay all her cards out on the table. "I mean what you're talking about Shepard...fifty thousand year old beings that'll wipe out all galactic life...it's pretty hard to swallow. In fact, I'm kind of _hoping _that you're wrong."

Shepard tossed the gun back on the table. "I know it sounds insane, I even doubt it myself sometimes but...but in a weird way...I just know it's true. That that's what the Prothean vision was trying to show me. It's just...a feeling. If we don't stop Saren, the Reapers will return."

"Then we'll stop him before he finds the Conduit Commander."

"I know. Because I'll die before I let that happen. Even if the Reapers really are just a myth. We will stop Saren and the Geth."

Ashley closed her eyes as Shepard uttered the sentence.

"Death closes all. But something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."

"Is that Ulysses?" Shepard asked, looking at the marine like she was insane.

"You know it?" Ashley replied shocked, eyes wide open.

"I should be asking you the same," Shepard immediately shot back.

"Just because I'm a marine doesn't mean I can't have a softer side," Ashley quickly blurted. "But my dad used to read it to me all the time. I thought it just fit our situation...I know I question you a lot Commander but...I believe you'll lead us through. With you in charge, Saren and his Geth won't know what hit them."

"Copy that Chief," Shepard replied, giving Williams a slight smile. "Get your hardsuit on and meet me up in the CiC." Shepard looked across the garage. "Vakarian! We're in the Pax system and arriving at Noveria in less than thirty. Suit up!"

"On it!" he yelled back in response to her shouting, quickly hopping off the Mako.

Shepard looked back to Ashley. "Make sure you let Tali know too."

"Let Tali know what?"

Shepard grinded her teeth as she heard his voice. She turned around and asked in an extremely scathing tone, "What are you doing down here."

"Just talking with the crew," Shield replied, looking around innocently. "...Why are you down here?"

"It's my ship," she growled. "I can do whatever the hell I want."

"...right," he replied.

"Shield was clearing up what happened several days ago," the Turian added walking over.

"Clearing up what?"

"Apparently Tanaka was spreading lies about what happened," Shield spoke. "Told everyone I sold you all out to the Broker. Not sure why-"

"Yeah," Shepard responded coldly. "It was because I told him to."

"What?...Why?!" he gawked.

"Because like you said, what happened needs to stay on a need to know basis. Everyone's safety would have been put in jeopardy if we told them about your...'origins'."

"But if Shield didn't really do any harm to our mission, why did you say he did something so extreme?" Garrus asked.

_To alienate Shield from you all. Make sure he didn't have the chance to ingratiate himself with the crew. Make it easier to rally everyone against him if I need to in the future. We still don't know his allegiance. Not really._

But she acknowledged that he didn't need to know that. He might have had the vision and said he wanted to stop Saren too but...it scared her that she couldn't actually get a read on him anymore. His face didn't betray _anything _that day.

"Because we needed a plausible reason to have done what we did," she responded. "Everyone would have questioned it otherwise. We need to keep the...'truth' on a need-to-know basis." The Turian seemed to accept that answer.

"Woah, what are you guys talking about?" Williams asked bewildered.

"I'll brief you later Williams," Shepard responded. "But if that's all, I want you two ready to go when we dock."

"Yes sir," Ashley and Garrus responded, immediately making their way to their lockers to prepare.

Shepard had time to only take four steps toward the elevator however before Shield spoke up again. "Hey Shepard, I wanted to ask you something."

She turned back around annoyed. Felawa stood behind Shield at a distance, wary of getting any closer to the two. "What."

"I want to be on the ground team."

"I don't care _what_ you want," she replied. "You're not leaving this ship."

"Okay, let me rephrase that. I'm _going _to be on the ground team."

In response to his impudence, Shepard felt her face contort in rage. "...Excuse me?"

"Shepard, Noveria is my world. Back room deals, sketchy contacts, illegal stuff. My forte. I know the area. How to maneuver around all that. Without me, you'll just get bogged down by red tape."

"I'm a Spectre," she simply replied. "There is no red tape."

"Shepard. Without authorization, they won't even let you land. Hell, even if we do, they'll only give you a meeting out of courtesy. Let alone anything we actually want...I know half the people at our dock. If I come with you, we'll find Benezia in no time, I promise."

"And why the hell should I believe you?" He actually paused, taking a moment to think the question over. She looked away exasperated. "Stop wasting my time-"

"Captain Matsuo. That's the name of the Hanshan's security detail leader. An Asian women working for Elanus Risk Control. If we don't have authorization to dock ahead of time, she'll come out to greet us with a Turian and a Blonde...I don't remember their names."

"And?" she remarked.

"Uh...because if I'm right...then that'll show you I know my way around. That I know the place AND everyone in it pretty much inside and out. If I'm wrong, I'll go right back to the Normandy and you won't have to worry about me bothering you about going groundside ever again."

She took a deep breath and started massaging her temples. "Whatever. Fine. Grab your stuff and follow them upstairs." She waved a hand half-halfheartedly to Ashley and where Garrus had just been originally kneeling. She didn't really have anything to lose from the decision. Because if Shield was right, and could actually help, as far fetched as that was, great. They didn't have time to waste. But if he tried something, attempted to take off or get in the way of finding Benezia...she'd finally have reason enough-

He practically jumped in the air with glee as soon as she spoke. "Yes! Awesome! You won't regret this Shepard. You made the right decision!"

"I hope so...for your sake," she warned him. Shepard then turned her attention back to Felawa. "Go tell Emerson that he'll be on the ship's security detail while we're here."

"Uh...alright ma'am," Felawa said with a salute.

She really hoped she wouldn't regret this. Shield was already going through the contents that had been sealed away in his locker by the time she turned back around, beginning to prepare his things alongside Ashley and Garrus.

If only she had known then...

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Doctor Heart's Logs**

Recording 2-025

Specimens reacted violently to the addition of 1.5 mg methyl-aminophalomine in the current experimental cocktail. They seem to become feral, unresponsive to any type of stimuli other than touch and sound. This nature manifests in every specimen of every group procured. I've had to euthanize Experimental Group C as they started regurgitating the entire contents of their stomachs until death. I'll have to wait for another batch of specimens to be delivered from Omega. Further note to self: Add binding agent to prevent this in future trials.

Recording 3-001

Every specimen (aside those inside the Control Group) are reacting obediently to my spoken commands. My brilliance reveals itself once again. Any organic species can be subjugated to your whim once they've been properly conditioned. The only side effects of my treatment seems to be the gross disfigurement of the subject's appearance, shedding their epidermis and/or carapace, and having the rods and cones in their optic nerves utterly deteriorate. This seems negligible in light of the fact that they still can receive and process the commands given to them. I'll have the attention of the galactic public once I release my findings. I have unlocked the ability to impose one's will on others. Soon, I'll have the attention of all those infinitely my lesser. I will transcend names such as Lennos, Kromaskas, and Beordin. MY research will bring about a new age. MY work will be what propels our societies into the next epoch of glory. I'll have every government in this collective crawling on their knees, kissing my feet, begging me and me alone for my research! It is solely I, Saleon, who holds the key to the greatest discovery since the mass relays!

Recording 3-003

Intruders, snakes, rats, have come to steal my research. Months of testings, hundreds of trials, MEANINGLESS! Pirates, rivals, STG? It doesn't matter. They're just jealous of my brilliance. I won't let them take it. My research is mine. Now it comes time to show them what the fruits of my labor have born to bear. These kepta will be squashed under my pads. Experimental Groups A through C are now being released!

The command I have given them you ask?

Kill those that would threaten my life's work! I will not be ruined by the likes of these insects! They have made a grave transgression stepping foot upon my threshold for greatness_

_Return to Main

_Enter Command

*Delete File: Thanatosis*

_Completed

_Enter Command.

*Initiate Self-destruct*

_Completed.

_Countdown T-Minus: One minute.

_59.

_58.

_57-

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Yeah making up for last week didn't happen. So I've been re-editing some chapters as a concession (or I guess making them flow just a _tad_ better). I kind of want to feel like I'm making _some_ progress with how slow the writing's been going as of late. But things should start kicking back off once we're _off_ the ship. Your guess on what Shield thinks he can exactly do off it is as good as mine. And the Normandy team so far _really_ likes taking down scientists with ethically-questionable practices. Noveria probably won't be an exception.**

**In the Next Chapter: Corporate scandal. Industrial espionage. Nabbing the Naughty Ne'er-do-wells on Noveria.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made**


	26. A New Narrative: Noveria

He opened up his locker, taking a single moment to stare at the dark armor stacked neatly inside.

_You won't regret this Shepard._

He reached into it, slowly beginning to pull its contents out one by one.

_I hope so._

He took a step back after finishing, scrutinizing the large pile of armor now heaped before him.

_For your sake._

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

_Pants first._

I stepped into the armor's greaves and lifted them up to my waist. Shoved my feet into the armor's boots right after. Simultaneously, Ashley unfolded an assault rifle beside me. I decided to pull the Janissary's chest piece over my head next, sliding my arms into its bracers. After her inspection, the marine beside me re-folded the gun and placed it on her back. I snapped the belt of my armor into place, and connected the final latches to combine the hardsuit's two halves. Ashley reached into her own locker and pulled out some frag grenades, affixing them to her belt. I splayed my hand while pulling my wrist, making sure the gauntlet was as snug as it could be. Ashley then took another assault rifle from her locker and too, slung it over her shoulder. My omni-tool lit up shortly after I connected the pieces of armor, displaying a message across my arm.

_This hardsuit's VI 'Delumcore-HK Suite DT-07M' has detected an operating system. It wishes to engage the hardsuit's pressure sealed system and allow feed-back-_

Almost by habit now, I immediately enter the command 'Approve' into the holographic display atop my glove. Within an instant, I feel various parts of my body stiffen in response. Only now were the pieces of my armor truly locking into place, becoming a properly insulated and airtight system, and potentially even a space suit. It was a feeling that I still wasn't entirely used to. On my right, Ashley reached into her locker one last time to grab her helmet, slinging it behind her hips, and mounted it just above her shotgun.

"You ready?" the woman asked, still crouching next to me.

I mimicked her action in response, grabbing the spare helmet from my locker as well. After attaching it to one of the magnetic holsters on my waist, I simply muttered "Yeah. Let's go."

Right as I began to turn around though, she stopped me.

"Wait...you'll probably need this."

She went back into her locker and pulled a pistol from it. My pistol.

"So that's where that's been," I said taking it from her. Couldn't believe I almost forgot it. Would have been a bit humorous going down without a weapon in hand to be honest. Right up until the point I was killed for being unarmed.

"I loaded all those spare heat clips you had laying around too. I counted four in total."

"Thanks," I replied examining the gun. Honestly, I was just glad that they hadn't sold it like I had originally feared. I found the button near the Predator's muzzle and pressed it, causing the gun to retract back into a compact square. I carefully holstered it on my thigh's magnetic strip. "That all?"

She narrowed her eyes at me before quickly turning around and walking in the direction of the weapon bench behind her. "Take this too."

"Oh shit!" I shouted as she suddenly tossed a gun in my direction. Luckily, it landed right in my arms, and as soon as it did, I reflexively hugged it tight to my chest. And then I looked at her like she was insane. Which she fucking was. "What the fuck was that?!"

"The safety's on, you baby," she responded nonchalantly.

"What-I-Are you serious?! So you decide it's alright to chuck the thing at me?! The thing filled with live ammunition?! Did no one ever teach you gun safety!?"

She merely rolled her eyes in response. "I've spent a good part of the last decade around that model. I've never heard of it going off unintentionally once."

"Well...there's a first time for everything," I replied cradling the assault rifle carefully in my arms. Then I raised a brow looking back up to her. "...are you sure Shepard would be alright with you giving me this?"

"Hey, you said you wanted another gun didn't you?" she questioned. "With the way you waste ammunition, you'll probably run out of those heat clips before we even leave the dock. This way, you can at least provide a distraction for us when you do." She quickly glanced down at the gun before resuming eye contact. "You ever used one of these before?"

Looking down at the rifle, I shook my head in response, suddenly regretting the choices I made in regards to the talent tree. If I had known I was going to be handling a weapon other than my handy Predator...

To my surprise though, the Lancer only felt marginally heavier than my pistol. You'd think the thing was plastic with how light it actually felt. The only thing that really intimidated me however was its two barrels.

_Do they both fire? Or are one of these just for show? Or heat venting? How do you even aim this thing? Where's the sight-_

"Well, Hahne-Kedar makes them real simple," she said answering my questions. "You see someone we don't like, just hold down the trigger right there, and bullets should come out of the end right here."

"Thanks," I replied sarcastically.

"No problem," the girl with the white and pink armor said smirking. "Glad I could help." Then her attention turned to someone behind me. Or some ones that is. "Hey you two, meet us on the bridge when you're done gearing up. Shepard wants to leave the ship as soon as we dock."

"We'll be right behind you," Garrus responded.

"Come on Shield," Ashley said turning her attention back to me. "Better not keep the Commander waiting."

I sighed and folded the assault rifle onto my back, waiting until I heard it lock into place. Then I followed her toward the elevator, and nodded in Garrus and Tali's general direction as we passed them. I saw Garrus return the favor right before the elevator doors closed.

* * *

Ashley and I apparently arrived at just the right time, as the Normandy was just entering Noveria's atmosphere. We could already hear Joker radioing the planet's air traffic comp as we walked up the bridge.

"Approach Control, this is the SSV Normandy. Requesting a vector and a berth."

With the addition of us, I found the bridge a little crowded now, as Wrex, Kaidan, Liara, and Shepard were already present, towering above the handful of other hands on the bridge seated below.

"Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defense grid is armed and tracking you. State your business."

His welcome reflected the world we were landing on. Cold and professional. I decided to review the facts I had gotten from the extranet one last time in my head. I had quite a bit of time to read up on Noveria in between relays and each FTL jump we took. I mean, I knew the basics from the codex, but I decided it couldn't hurt to learn more. And I learned quite a bit. From what I read, the planet was essentially a privately chartered colony world owned by the Noveria Development Company (or NDC). That's where I first got distracted and looked up how a company could 'privately own' an entire world.

According to the site I went to, space exploration and colonization is a complicated business. Like unnecessarily complex. In 'Citadel space', every survey team (commissioned by a sovereign state or private firm) must be registered with an independent government (or sovereign state) recognized by the Council. If you're say, an unlicensed wild-cat miner who happens to stumble upon an Eezo-rich world, it's free game for any interstellar power that also 'happens' upon it, and you might even be evicted for illegally trying to claim the resources without interstellar authorization.

So when a new solar system is discovered (or surveyed) by whomever, the rights to the system are determined by the independent government funding the expedition. This can be determined by the contract that was negotiated, laws passed by that government's legislative body, or whatever exclusive rights were granted in regards to that unique situation. This can result in a company (like Exogeni) effectively owning a colony and world (such as Feros). The independent government (Systems Alliance) allows those that conducted the survey (Exogeni) to govern the planet (if they can afford it) as they see fit, only interfering with its development for humanitarian or defense reasons. Past that point is where the bureaucracy got a little too extreme for my taste.

IN ANY CASE, that's why Noveria is privately owned, and not technically considered a part of Citadel space. The survey teams that happened upon the Pax system were funded by a joint venture of twenty four different interstellar corporations. While each of these corporations operated underneath a sovereign power, that's exactly what caused the Pax system to be labelled as a 'Terminus system' in the Traverse (which was their plan from the get-go). Their joint effort to survey the system resulted in policy conflicts between the Turian-governed ERCS, Asari-governed Synthetic Insights, Human-governed Exo-Geni and so on. Since no race wanted to start an interstellar dispute pushing their rights to the system, Pax was simply labelled as ungoverned space (or Terminus System). So now that the corporations effectively owned the system without input from any Citadel race, they had to find a way to mediate their business, and TADA, the NDC was formed. An impartial (in theory) holding company whose executive board was made up of candidates from each of the twenty-four original corporations. The NDC provides these corporations with an extra-legal world to explore questionable research and controversial practices on.

That loophole they exploited has since been fixed (with joint-interstellar corporation efforts now put directly under Council jurisdiction), but Noveria still technically remains that independent Terminus system outside (but really inside) Citadel space.

I snapped back to our current situation when I heard Shepard's voice. I didn't realize I had gotten so sidetracked. She had been pacing back and forth in her crimson red armor behind Joker when she heard the NDC's reply. "Citadel business," she immediately cut in afterwards. "This vessel has the authority of a Council Spectre."

A lull of silence fell across the bridge following her statement. Looks were exchanged.

"Commander...we might need-"

"Landing access granted Normandy."

"-nevermind," Joker finished.

"But be advised," the voice decided to add. "We will be confirming identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded."

More looks and murmurs were exchanged.

"What a fun bunch," Joker snidely remarked to no one in particular. "I think I'll take my next shore leave here."

"Just focus on bringing the ship in nice and steady lieutenant."

"Hey, name one time I haven't," he shot back.

Shepard ignored him, deciding to turn around instead and examine her troops. She looked over Wrex, the Krogan clad in his solid red mercenary armor, eager to get off the ship and stretch his legs. Kaidan, outfitted in his special-ops onyx armor, currently cracking his neck in preparation. Ashley, sporting her white and pink phoenix armor, standing at attention on my right. Liara, wearing a lighter version of Ashley's armor, and who's attention was currently affixed to the floor. As I looked at her, I remembered for the umpteenth time what was about to happen here. I tried not to think about how she would feel after everything was said and done.

"Where's Zorah and Vakarian?" Shepard spoke up.

"Here Commander!" Tali immediately replied saddling up beside me, breathing a tad hard. Looking over my shoulder, I could see Garrus still making his way through the CiC behind her.

"Good, then listen up. We're here because we recently got a tip that Matriarch Benezia arrived not too long ago. If some of you don't know why that name's familiar, it's because she's working with Saren. We don't know what she's here for, or how many enemy combatants she brought with her. What we do know however is that we have to find and stop whatever she's doing before she returns to Saren."

"Commander, the Normandy just finished docking. You're able to leave any time you want," one of the bridge crew reported from their consoles.

She started walking toward the airlock. "You heard her. Time to move."

As soon as the air lock had equalized pressure and opened its doors, a bone-chilling wind rushed in to meet us and assaulted our faces.

"Damn that's cold," Ashley chattered beside me.

"Wonder what that feels like."

Ashley stared at the Krogan next to her. "What it's like to be cold?"

"That's right. Just another upside to being Krogan I suppose," Wrex grinned.

"Put on your helmet and activate your suit's thermal if you're already feeling frosty," Shepard added. "We're going to be here awhile."

"I can manage," Ashley muttered crossing her arms.

"Hopefully it'll be a little warmer once we're inside," Kaidan remarked.

And with that, the eight of us exited the airlock and began our approach to Port Hanshan. As we came closer and closer to the entrance of Hanshan's facility, I found that the docking area kind of reminded me of a subway station. The tunnel the Normandy had docked in seemed to be made of concrete and went on for what seemed a long ways. Or I thought it did until the group suddenly turned around a corner. And just like I had predicted, there they were. One Japanese woman, one blonde, and one turian. And four other goons I hadn't remembered as well. The amount of security before us was actually intimidating, especially since I was sure there were more here than I remembered.

"That's far enough," Captain Matsuo said holding up a hand.

When Shepard came to a stop, so did the rest of our entourage.

"I'm on important business," Shepard asserted, "don't waste my time."

"Watch your tone," the blonde rent-a-cop spat back.

I could feel Shepard already glaring at her. I couldn't really tell though since I was kind of at the back of the group. I didn't quite have the best view of everyone up front due to this. I decided get a little closer by squeezing myself in front of Wrex, who actually happened to be taking up half the walk. He let out a low growl as I did so but...whatever. To be honest, the guy needed to be more aware of his size. Every time he walked down a hall, you would have to run back to the room you had just left to avoid the Krogan plowing through you.

Sorry, got sidetracked. Anyway, back to the group at hand-

Matsuo shot a glance at the tough-looking blonde, probably telling her to cool it. But shortly after, returned her attention back to the guests of honor. "This is an unscheduled arrival. I'll need your credentials."

"You first," Shepard said hostilely. Now that I was a little closer, I could actually observe Shepard's more subtle movements. Her head slightly cocked, eyes quickly flitting between the members of the group in front of us, fingers slowly moving to her sidearm. That last one was kind of alarming. It was pretty clear that she didn't trust them. In fact, I think she was actually expecting a fire fight. Which was even more worrying, as she was about to be given a reason for one once they move to confiscate our weapons.

"We're the law here," the blonde said coldly. "Show some respect."

I AM THE LAW...would have been a good comeback. But alas, no one had my amazing taste for one-liners.

"I'm Captain Maeko Matsuo," the head of the welcome party continued cordially, at least in contrast with her number two. "Elanus Risk Control Services."

"Mercenaries," Garrus said aloud.

"Oh please, like you're not," blondie snapped back.

"Sergeant Stirling, control yourself," the Captain immediately ordered. Stirling grumbled something under her breath in response. The middle-aged Japanese woman closed her eyes briefly to recompose herself. She then took a quick breath before continuing. "We're employed here by the executive board to uphold the law in Port Hanshan. The ERCS is a shareholder, and provides its services at a discount. And now that we've identified ourselves, I'd like to ask again for you to show your credentials."

"All you need to know is that I have more credentials than you."

Oh Shepard. A true diplomat.

"They plan to be trouble ma'am," Stirling said cocking her gun.

"I can't let you enter the port area without confirmation of your identity." If Matsuo was annoyed by Shepard's response, she hid it pretty well. But then came the line, "Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons."

Worst.

Decision.

Ever.

As soon as Stirling took a step forward, the Normandy crew had whipped out their respective weapons (and/or biotics) already primed, ready to go. The guards lagged in response, only pulling their firearms out several seconds later. This was most likely due to their shock at our tenacity. Probably weren't used to situations like this. Hell, I KNEW this would happen and was still shocked.

The only two people who hadn't actually joined the Mexican stand-off were me and their captain. Matsuo simply stood where she was, calm, hands behind her back, not even attempting to reach for her pistol. I couldn't tell whether she was incredibly disciplined or just severely underestimated how batshit crazy Shepard was when it came to violence.

"Don't try it," Wrex guttered.

"Nobody takes my weapon," Shepard didn't fail to add.

"Charge and lock," Matuso responded.

And that's how thirteen people in the docking bay suddenly came to cock their guns and prepare for a giant shootout. I knew Gianna was going to make them stand down in just a second, but I still couldn't help feel like I was making a huge mistake when I decided to jump in between them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoaaaa," I said holding out my arms to both groups. "Guys! Let's-"

I felt my arm suddenly get yanked.

Mistake. Definitely a mistake.

Sterling wrapped her arm around my throat and lifted her shotgun to my head. Not the most efficient gun to hold someone hostage with but- "Drop your guns!"

"Oh shit," I said in response.

"Shield!" Liara burst.

"Damn fool," Wrex said aloud.

Shepard just narrowed her eyes.

I gulped.

_...so...not your best moment. _

"We _are_ authorized to use lethal force. You have to the count of three to surrender your weapons," Matsuo added. But there was no response. So she started counting down like a mother about to punish her child. "One-" Shepard eyes flitted between Matsuo and Stirling. Kaidan opened his mouth to say something but no sound left it. "Two-" Everyone had crazy eyes now, and Shepard glew violet, deciding to train her weapon...on me.

_Oh god-_

"Thr-"

"Captain Matsuo stand down!"

_Oh god. Oh thank god._

The blonde's grip didn't lessen, and guns weren't lowered until the voice continued. "We confirmed their identity. Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here Captain."

Matuso looked to her right real quick before renewing eye contact with Shepard. "You may proceed Spectre." Sterling let go of my neck and shoved me forward. Never thought I'd fear a woman's touch as much as I did now. But as soon as she did, everyone followed suit. Shepard glared at me as I was pushed back toward the group. "I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational. Parasini-san will meet you upstairs."

I turned back around to face the guards as they started to disperse.

"Behave yourselves," Stirling decided to add.

"Behave yourself."

_Damn you mouth. Why can't you just shut up once? Damn you._

"Excuse me?" she gawked turning around. "What did you just say?"

Two of the ERCS guards close enough to hear us seemed to stop what they were doing and listened in. I ended up just standing where I was like a deer in headlights.

_You just had to get the last word in didn't you? Had to open your big fat mouth. She just had a gun to your head. She was willing to kill you a second go. She has no morals. You can't just tell her that you know about-...hm. Or CAN you?_

"That's what I thought," she sneered, taking my silence as submission. As she began to walk away, down another hallway adjacent to the main entrance, I finally responded.

"Anoleis won't be around much longer."

She slowly turned around with a fury that gave Shepard's a good run. "Are you threatening the Administrator?"

"I'm afraid that's a secret," I said with a slight smirk. "But why do you think a Spectre's here?" That got her to take a step back. "I'd just be sure that I'm not involved in anything dirty while she's around." I gave a quick motion back to Shepard. Though she was still giving me a caustic look, Stirling seemed to back off. Without a word, the woman turned around and quickly walked away, motioning for the two remaining guards to follow her.

"Alright, I'll bite. Who's Anoleis?"

I slowly turned around, surprised to see the Normandy gang still hanging out behind me. I thought they had already followed Matsuo inside. I probably wouldn't have continued that conversation if I had known they were still behind me. Now I would have to explain who Anoleis was, and how I might know that and...I was actually surprised that they hadn't butted into the conversation.

"You'll probably meet him in a second," I decided to just cryptically reply to Ashley.

Shepard rolled her eyes in response and walked past me into the actual building. Following her lead, we all trailed behind her. As the second person to enter though, I got a nice view of the building's lobby. The first thing you noticed, and couldn't miss, upon walking in was the large waterfall smack dab in the middle of the room. The soothing sound of cascading water filled the entire area. Incredibly Swanky.

The waterfall itself was sandwiched between two staircases that you could see led up to Port Hanshan's actual check-in. Shepard immediately made a straight beeline for them. I guessed she was too focused on our mission to actually take a second, and admire the pomp and sophistry around us. As we followed her up the stairs, I couldn't help but take further notice of the art pieces they had up on the walls too. Really supplemented Noveria's whole theme of catering to the corporate elite. The paintings themselves seemed as pretentious as the business men we passed. They were framed in what I thought could be actual gold, and were so abstract that I couldn't tell if one painting was of an Asari or a giant squid. And once we reached the top of the stairs, we came across the final obstacle blocking our way to Port Hanshan's check in. Two cameras mounted above the final doorway leading inside, both projecting beams that occasionally swept across it. Extra security in addition to the guards outside I supposed. Better safe than sorry.

And what, might you ask, did Commander Shepard do when we came face to face with them? Walked straight through without hesitation of course, god forbid they cause her to stop for even a moment. Her nonchalance toward the cameras rewarded us and the rest of the lobby with a high-pitched siren. The sound could have split your eardrums. Probably would have. The situation only worsened when I heard Kaidan shout out in pain behind me. Shepard whipped around quicker than I did to see if he was alright.

"Kaidan!"

As she rushed to his side, he merely doubled over in response. I immediately recognized the source of his problem: his L2's.

"Sorry! Weapon detectors! Don't mind the alarms."

I turned back around to the reception desk, where an olive-skinned woman had just begun typing away at a computer. The alarms died down just seconds later.

"Ah...I...just need a breather," Kaidan rasped to the woman hovering over him. I took the initiative while everyone was distracted and approached her.

"Hey, is he alright?" she asked, leaning over the counter concerned. What immediately caught my eye about her was the hot-pink dress she was wearing, and the fact that it seemed to be completely made of spandex. I knew fashion had probably changed after a hundred years, but there was no way in hell that thing could possibly be considered stylish. Someone needed to call up Joan Rivers and the Fashion Police on this biddy, because her dress actually upset me.

"Uh yeah, he's an L2," I said, simply deciding to drop it. "Gets pretty bad migraines from loud sounds and other stuff like that."

The receptionist turned to face my direction in response, and upon seeing me, suddenly grew wide-eyed. She pushed herself off the counter and recomposed herself. "Sorry about that sir. Meant to shut off those scanners before you all arrived."

"Oh, uh, no problem," I replied. "We should probably be thanking you for your help with the whole mix-up outside."

She gave me a slight nod, and smile, in return. "It was my pleasure. I'm Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis."

"Shield. Marauder SHrk," I gurgled as Shepard shoved me aside.

"Oh, and you must be Commander Shepard," she said in response. "We do apologize for the incident in the docking bay."

"Yeah, did someone piss in your security chief's coffee today?"

_GOD, you're such a DICK Shepard._

I rubbed my shoulder as I turned back around to face them.

_That was totally uncalled for._

"She takes her job very seriously," Gianna simply informed her. "She has been quite a valuable asset to the company." She then glanced at me, then at the rest of our gang, and then back to Shepard. "One of my duties is orientation of new arrivals. Do any of you have questions about our facilities?"

Shepard took no time in asking. "Has anyone unusual passed through here recently?"

I sighed, and leaned against the wall beside me. As annoying as it was, I no longer really gave a rat's ass about Shepard's attitude problem. There was only one thing I was really concerned with right now, and I'd be able to address it once Shepard asked all her questions first.

"Unusual? I believe an Asari Matriarch passed through a couple days ago. Lady Benezia."

Shepard looked at our Asari as she joined the conversation. "Benezia? So she...she really is here?"

"I believe so."

"She's a threat to galactic peace," Shepard briefed her. "I'm here to bring her in or put her down."

_...wow. Real considerate Shepard. Not like her child is in the room right beside you or anything._

"I'm sorry, but the Board doesn't like having outside problems dumped in its lap Commander." She looked cautiously at Wrex for a moment before continuing. "Benezia left for the Peak 15 research complex days ago. To the best of my knowledge, she's still there."

"Good. Give us directions and we'll be on our way," the Spectre replied.

"You'll need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave the port."

"I'm a Spectre. I don't _need_ permission to go anywhere."

Parasini replied with surprising composure. "I'm sorry Commander, but Port Hanshan_ is_ outside of Citadel space. Spectres have no legal authority here. You've been given special clearance as a gesture of our cooperation with Council law, but you will still need to adhere to our rules here."

Shepard locked eyes with her in response. An epic battle of will now began between them. A clash between their resolve and convictions. A contest between their indomitable spirits. The most intense staring contest I've ever seen. It was just getting heated before Shepard surprisingly conceded after the first second passed. "...where can I find the Administrator?"

"His office is on the main level. First left from the top of the elevator."

"Thanks," Shepard replied defeated, quickly turning around to head toward the elevators.

"If you need help with anything else, you can ask me at the administrator's office!"

"Wait," I said as Parasini was just readying to leave.

"Yes?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Lorik Qui'in currently is would you?"

Parasini looked at me strangely. "The manager of Synthetic Insights?"

"Yeah, the Turian right?"

"Oh...yes. I believe you can find him in the hotel bar."

Just like in the game. And like that I was right back on course.

"Aight. Cool, thanks. And I guess we'll catch you downstairs."

"Uh, right. I guess we, uh, will," she replied looking at me oddly. Then she left, quickly leaving into the room behind her. For a second I almost followed her into it. Was always a little curious on how she beat you downstairs to Anoleis' office. It was actually kind of funny now that I thought about it. But in the end I decided against it, and turned back around to find Shepard and crew already heading toward the elevators that would take us down. They apparently weren't in the mood to waste time.

I couldn't help but smile as I jogged down the hallway after them.

Operation: -Leave Port Hanshan as quickly as possible- was a go.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Spacehouse Rock with Spacer Sam, Episode 28: Galactic Economic Zones and Formation of Interstellar Boundaries**

Hey Kids! Spacer Sam here! Today I want to teach you all a little something about Citadel Space Bureaucracy and how the Citadel Council determines which sovereign state gains control of resources and territory in a newly discovered system, also putting emphasis on how they establish these exclusive economic trading zones without an individual colony or race coming into conflict between that state's handle of trade, investment, and administration in that system. Sound like fun? Yes? Then alright, haha, follow me!

But wait. Before we get started today, a helpful thing to remember from Episode 2: Spatial Dimensions and Fundamental Physics of the Galaxy is that you can't establish boundaries in space time. We all remember that space is basically defined as a four-dimensional Minkowski continuum, consisting of three spatial dimensions (width, length, and height) and one temporal one (time). On a planet such as Earth, you have established Cartesian coordinates that you can use to draw a line between states such as China and India. But even on places like the Human home world of Earth, when you get to things like maritime boundaries, there is still considerable dispute as to how they are drawn. These disputes arise from issues such as conflicting territorial sovereignty between two states, or special interest groups wanting specific regions of water to become non-exclusive economic zones. So you can imagine trying to impose things like that in the setting of space where thousands of entities exist is technically unfeasible. Considering the fact that currently less than 1% of the Milky Way (as Humans call it) has been surveyed, you can start to see why it's silly (and impractical) for a civilization to try establish things such as 'borders' or 'distinct state lines'. Even in what can be loosely defined as 'Citadel Space', one can't exactly determinate the administrative borders between Asari and Elcor space, or the militarized zone between Humans and Batarians known as the Skyllian Verge.

Sure, you can exert control over a region of space by setting up patrols and checkpoints around a relay. Control the relay, control the entire system of stars it links too (if its a primary relay that is), as previously discussed in Episode 25: Galactic Military and Naval Tactics Across Species. But as you all know according to Council law, an independent government can only legally claim sovereignty over a primary relay if it links to their home system. Secondary relays can be patrolled by a government's military, but not by legal definition 'owned' or 'controlled'.

Then, you might say, couldn't a government simply control a region of space by setting up a checkpoint at its designated hub? And I'd say yes, this is how most governments exert control over the vast expanse that is space. It would be impossible for a fleet to monitor every known star cluster, system, and planet in a region, as well as the empty space in between each, so a vital point of interest must be inherently focused on. This is the theory by which the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission (CDEM) operates in Krogan space. In the case of the CDEM, their mission is to patrol the Krogan DMZ, logging all ships that pass through, and ensuring that the krogan do not obtain starship-mounted weaponry. They established a deliberate center of operations around the Aralakh-Widow Relay and world of Tuchanka, and set sporadic patrols throughout the entire system. They only need to monitor the Aralakh system to establish security over the large region known as Krogan space. Of course occasional patrols are still sent to other clusters, but their chances of success at even finding other ships let alone law-breakers is infinitesimal.

So instead of these set borders, Citadel Space can essentially be viewed as what Humans refer to as a Schengen area, an area with virtually no boundaries or set state lines. While independent governments such as the Systems Alliance and Asari Republics have occasional patrols, their fringe colonial systems are still left relatively vulnerable and unguarded, and both only establishing military presence if it suddenly becomes a point of interest (such as the case with the Human colony of Mindoir). So even though a sovereign state recognized by the Citadel Council can claim a cluster as their 'territory', it is still treated as 'international waters' (but in space!). But don't forget the nature of space, and the emptiness that lies between every claimed system and planet. There can be thousands of little pockets claimed by a race that can be scattered thousands of parsecs apart. If a government wanted to claim the space in between them, how would they define that? Claim the entire cluster? Just the star system? Just the systems with colonies? If you did, where does the imaginary boundary end? Looking at a 2D representation of the galaxy, the territories might seem quite clear cut. But in the third (height), and additional fourth dimension (time), it becomes increasingly messy with multiple sovereign state lines intersecting and government's claiming vast expanses of space when in reality their influence might be marginal at best. Such is the case with the Alliance. Alliance space might _seem_ huge in comparison to the rest of the Citadel races, but in reality, the territory is made of a vast amount of unexplored systems and small, neglected, backwater colonies that are dispersed throughout it.

On the topic of Humanity and the Systems Alliance, we've found that one of the most common questions asked by students was how Humanity became such a huge power in the short time they've been part of the galactic community. Most scholars and economic analysts point to one reason. They cheated. Before First Contact, the Systems Alliance essentially did what Europe did during the colonization of Africa. Quickly put claims on any resources they encountered. In its infancy, the Systems Alliance activated as many relays as it could, locating the first system they came across containing a garden world and established a colony there (as well as performing the deft move of making that colony the relay's central hub). They would then let corporations like Eldfell-Ashland continue their work, expanding to other nearby star clusters on their own dime (which is why Humanity possesses the largest amount of privately/commercially owned colonies in Citadel Space).

This is why Humanity has so many settlements spread out across the Attican Traverse, and why it has a 'space' comparable to that of the entirety of Citadel space itself. The Attican Traverse wasn't even named until Humanity was discovered, as travel to many of its clusters were impossible without the many relays the Alliance activated. Humanity gained sole access to trillions in resources due to this policy on mass relay activation, which the races of the Citadel Council expressly forbid. This eventually resulted of course in the First Contact War and Humanity's subsequent rise on the galactic scene. Humanity's expansionism and relatively vast wealth compared to its infancy is due to its activation of so many Mass relays. This is also the main source of controversy for Humanity with other Citadel races.

This is also the major contributor to the Systems Alliance and Batarian Hegemony conflict. Since 'Batarian space' marginally bordered a large amount of what was deemed the Attican Traverse, Batarians claimed that they also had a right to colonize the clusters that Humanity had illegally gained access to. When the Council stonewalled their requests, not wanting to offend this new member that had just recently upset, the Batarians withdrew their membership in protest. And when they ceased relations with the Citadel Council, the space of the Batarian Hegemony technically became a part of the 'Terminus Systems', despite its relatively close proximity to Systems Alliance (and therefore Citadel) Space.

Welp, that looks like all the time we have for today! In the next episode: What exactly is a 'Terminus System'? And why are they such a concern?

Tune in next time on Spacehouse Rock with Spacer Sam!

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Noveria plotline started? Check. Pass to leave Port Hanshan? Next on the list. Expect our drive to Peak 15, rebooting its systems, solving the Rachni problem and defeating Benezia next! ...so...just ****expect the regular Noveria Plotline I guess.**

**And why you might ask, the hugely unnecessary headcanon exposition detailing Citadel expansionism and how races divide their civilizations? Bored I guess. Got started on Noveria and it just kinda of kept on coming and coming I guess...half of it barely even makes sense. And would you believe that I still have more? It got increasingly more and more off topic as I went on (which you can see still happened in the entry above) so I guess we can look forward to another addition of Spacer Sam in the future :| ****. And I guess if you want to hear my own fanwank for a specific detail of ME that was never delved into (or a conceived plothole in the trilogy), PM me and I'll see what kind of explanation I can make for it in a codex entry.**

**Review Responses: **

And I don't know what happened but...stop vandalizing my reviews you hooligans! What are any of you even talking about ಠ_ಠ

April Fool's Prank? I see no such thing.

**In the Next Chapter: Lorik Qui'in, the man with a plan that I decided to can. **

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	27. Eulogies and Epitaphs for the ERCS

Walking over to the group, I could tell something was bothering everyone. No one was smiling, no one was exchanging witty banter, no one seeming particularly suspicious of why I had stayed behind and what I had just talked to the desk clerk about...unusual stuff. Then Liara reiterated the comment I had missed.

"She is here. I can't believe it."

_Ah._

That awkward moment when you realize you're going to have to kill someone's mother. I could see why that thought might give everyone pause. I mean, I already knew what was coming...what was to be...but that didn't mean I couldn't still empathize with them. That I wasn't still dreading the moment we actually stepped foot inside peak 15 too.

And even though I knew about it ahead of time...I still couldn't do a thing to help her. Liara or her mother. I've literally had weeks to plan since I've been here and...I still got nothing. Which pretty much summarizes my entire experience so far. Helpless to actually do anything about the shitty situations we came across. Matriarch Benezia will just be another mark on my list of failures...although I guess it's not really my fault in the first place.

_Fucking indoctrination._

"...I imagine you want to talk to me Shepard. About my mother," Liara followed up after her brief pause. Everyone turned to Shepard as the Asari addressed her, anticipating what the Commander would say. While I didn't think the Commander mistrusted Liara as much as Ashley did, I still found myself grimacing, anticipating a fairly caustic reply nonetheless.

"No, I don't. I trust you Liara. You've helped us on more than one occasion. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew."

_what._

"Thank you Shepard, that...means a great deal to me."

_The fuck was that._

Beep-Boop.

The elevator doors beside us slid open with a chime as soon as the words were uttered. Without a response, Shepard immediately walked in, followed by Kaidan, Liara, Tali and Ashley. After the marine entered, it was clear that the elevator was at capacity.

"Take the other lift. We'll rendezvous downstairs," Shepard instructed us.

"See you on the other side," Ashley added before their doors closed.

With a grunt, Wrex led us to the next elevator over. Once Garrus entered the elevator after me, I pushed the button to take us down. And as the doors slid close, the lights in the elevator dimmed and a voice came on over its intercom.

"Welcome to Port Hanshan, the galaxy's most respected site for independent scientific research and development. For your own safety, and to protect the privacy of others, you are required to obey any directions given by our security personnel. If you have questions or concerns, our friendly administrative staff is always available. Thank you, and enjoy your stay."

As soon as the voice's spiel had ended, a familiar tone immediately followed it over the elevator next.

* * *

Mass Effect Elevator Music - 15 minutes worth (As that's how long one should listen to this. I'm not ashamed to admit that I had this on the entire time I wrote this chapter.)

* * *

"I hate this song," Wrex muttered after a couple minutes.

"You know...I once took an elevator on Palaven. It played this tune too."

"Damn. This horrible noise was the one reason why I try to avoid working on the Citadel. You tellin' me this is played throughout Council space?"

"Guess so."

"I kind of like it."

"Of course you would," the Krogan grumbled in my direction.

"A councilor likes a tune, then Boom, you suddenly find it playing in every elevator on the Citadel. Kind of seems like an abuse of power."

"If we don't get off this elevator in the next minute, I'm going to tear that damn speaker off the wall."

Then another voice suddenly came on over the intercom. "Caution. Extreme conditions have arisen outside Port Hanshan. We advise all personnel to remain inside the facility. Access to the Aleutsk Valley pass is strictly prohibited for those without garage passes. For those possessing garage passes, it is highly recommended to remain inside the facility. We will keep you briefed on any changes regarding the situation. Thank you, and enjoy your stay."

"Great," Wrex muttered.

"Hey Shield," Garrus suddenly said turning to me. "I noticed you having a couple more words with that woman at the desk...what did you ask her about it?"

"Oh," I replied in alarm, "Just...making sure we have a way to leave this place, with Anoleis' help or not."

"And how do you plan that?" Garrus asked.

Just as I was about to respond, our elevator's doors slid open, which revealed the rest of the Normandy crew already waiting for us in Hanshan's pavilion.

"There they are," Kaidan remarked as the three of us left our lift to join them.

Looking out the large glass panes behind them, one could clearly see the snowstorm raging outside. It gave me chills just looking at it.

"So what's the plan Shepard?" Garrus asked beside me.

"We're going to go speak to this 'Administrator', get our clearance to leave, and then get out of this dump to find Benezia, simple as that."

"Wait Shepard...mind if I go...do a thing while you speak to Anoleis?"

"Wait, was the Administrator's name Anoleis?" Ashley piped up, looking like she had just had an epiphany. "Didn't you mention something about him back in the dock? About him not being around much longer?"

"You're not leaving my sight," Shepard said to end the discussion.

"What if Wrex and Garrus accompany me on my errand? Make sure I don't cause any trouble."

"What are you planning on doing?" Kaidan asked next.

"It's kind of a long story. But in short, I think I'll be able to get us a garage pass to get out of here."

The Commander leered at me before turning to Kaidan. "I want you to go with him. Make sure he doesn't do anything he'll regret."

"Of course Commander," Kaidan replied.

"Come on," she said motioning to the rest of the group. "We don't have any more time to waste." As the girls walked down the stairs to Anoleis' office, the rest of the group turned to look at me.

"Well?" Wrex said.

"Well," I replied clapping my hands together. "I didn't think she'd say yes. So...uh, follow me I guess."

The three shared some glances with each other before following me down the hallway.

* * *

After asking around, which probably caused some concern for my homies behind me, we were finally able to find Port Hanshan's bar. Which also apparently served as the lobby for its executive hotel. And it definitely had the feel of one. The first thing you saw after exiting the elevator was a giant cluster of what appeared to be moss-covered rocks that were inside the middle of several bright flashing holographic rings that alternated in color, which all sat in the middle of a clear rectangular pool placed in the middle of the extravagant lobby, where one additionally found middle-aged woman in middle management speaking to middle men from various middle of the road companies, all in the middle of extremely important business deals that have probably been going on since the middle of the night. It was clear too that none of these people were middle-class, though some were maybe in middle school with how they were raising their voices and arguing loud enough for everyone outside the middle area to hear.

At first glance, the area was a little overwhelming. But I didn't plan to get dragged into the middle of it all. I told myself ahead of time that I was going to walk into that hotel bar/lobby/lounge/mezzanine with laser-like focus, making sure that my eyes scanned over every fountain, sculpture, and business person in the room for one Lorik Qui'in. And I did just that. After completing my first scan, I was able to deduce that the Turian sitting a couple yards away on our left was the guy we were looking for. Especially since he seemed to be the only Turian in the room.

Lorik was wearing a bright blue tunic, with a collar that went from the back of his neck to the beginnings of his stomach. Probably the deepest v-neck I've ever seen in my life. Although I guess it was more of an 0 shape than a v. As weird as it might've seemed on a Human though, it didn't actually look bad on the Turian...not that I was familiar with Turian fashion or what actually _did _look good on them.

When Lorik glanced up from his drinks however, the distinct cobalt tattoos circling his eyes and striping his mandibles immediately drew my attention next. Was one of the more uncommon Turian facial tattoos I've seen...not that I've seen many. Of course, then my eyes were drawn to the amount of drinks the Turian actually had on his table. I didn't realize the man was also a functioning alcoholic.

"Afternoon. Sit down, have a drink," he responded surprisingly jovial to our unexpected arrival. "What can I do for you?"

I quickly snapped my attention back to the alien sitting before me. "I appreciate the offer but this should be quick. Would you happen to be Lorik Qui'in by chance?"

"This would be him," Lorik replied. "What can an old Turian like me possibly help you with?"

Garrus and Kaidan both looked at me with the question, also sharing Lorik's curiosity as to why we were here. Though I couldn't see Wrex behind me, I assumed he felt the opposite. He was never interested in anything that concerned talking.

"Well, I heard you were having some trouble with Anoleis. So I'm here to strike a deal. We recover that information you have on the Administrator being corrupt, and in return, you give us a garage pass so we can leave Hanshan."

"How...fortuitous," the Turian replied. "Does Anoleis really believe that I'm so dull that I would give the location of the evidence to the first people who offered help?"

"...what?"

"Tell the administrator he can keep searching my office all he'd like. He's not going to find it."

"We're not working for Anoleis," Kaidan cut in.

"Really? So it just happens to be a coincidence that four strangers come to ask me for a means to retrieve the evidence I have? Just shortly after the Administrator happened to bring in mercenaries from off-world?"

"Uh...yes?" I replied.

"We're here with Commander Shepard, a Council Spectre," Garrus explained. "We're looking for an Asari Matriarch by the name of Benezia T'Soni-"

"A Matriarch? Ah yes, I remember her. I must say, she was dressed for her role. An asari in a pinstriped suit that sent many a tongue wagging among the younger male employees. So to speak."

"Huh. That does sound like something off an extranet fetish site..."

We all turned to look at Kaidan.

"What?"

"I fail to see why a clothed female would be more interesting than a naked one," Wrex grumped.

"I think it's imagining what's under those clothes that gets someone so excited," I replied. "Or so I've heard."

Garrus coughed loudly. "As I was saying...from what we've been told, the Matriarch left this facility a while ago. I believe we'll need this garage pass my associate mentioned to leave this place and give pursuit."

"I see. So you say you are all here with the Spectre." Lorik Qui'in leaned back in his chair for a moment, looking over our motely group, seeming to assess the validity of our claims. Then he placed his arm on the table and his chin on his fist. "I did acquire evidence of Anoleis' illicit actions during his tenure as Port Hanshan's Administrator. And yes, his hired goons are ransacking my office for it as we speak. If you really are here with the Spectre...than you'll enter my office and destroy the console that contains this information."

"What? Why would you want us to destroy it?" I asked bewildered.

"The information on my computer is backed up on another system offsite every minute. If the hardware is destroyed, the files I have on it can simply be recovered on another one of my employer's many servers."

"Uh...so how can we prove that we did that?"

"By bringing back its smoldering remains. I'll know it's mine when I see it."

"You want us to bring back a pile of scrap?" Wrex asked him incredulously.

"Precisely."

"Ooookay," I replied. "We can do that."

"Good. Then we have a deal."

"What about the people the Administrator has searching your office?" Garrus quickly cut in.

"Ah...well, that's the one other-what is that charming expression Humans like to use...fly in the lotion?"

"Mmmm, did you mean a fly in the soup?"

"I think he meant a fly in the ointment."

"That's the one," Lorik agreed.

"What?" I said turning to Kaidan. "The hell is that?"

"A fly in the ointment? It's a phrase you use for when something spoils an otherwise enjoyable experience. My father used to use it all the time."

"You were saying?" Garrus interrupted.

"Ah yes," Lorik Qui'in continued. "I believe violence against Anoleis' thugs will be necessary. He has members of Hanshan's security team searching my offices. He is paying them under the table." Then he quickly added "Ms. Matsuo is unaware of their outside employment."

"How many are inside?" Garrus interrogated.

"I wouldn't know," the other Turian replied. "...will this be an issue?"

"Not at all," I replied. Garrus and Kaidan looked at me with concern.

"We're talking about harming law enforcement here," Garrus said angrily, crossing his arms.

"If they're paid under the table, they're crooked. You know what we did to crooked cops back on my world?"

"Well we're not on Tuchanka Wrex are we?" Garrus shot back. Wrex gave him a dirty look in return.

"They might be dirty, but that doesn't mean we have to outright kill them," Kaidan argued.

"We'll see what happens when we get there guys, alright?" I addressed all three. That seemed to quiet them. Then I turned back to Qui'in. "We'll be right back with your...computer."

"Excellent. Here is my pass to get into our offices. It will activate the elevator that'll take you up, which you can find right outside Port Hanshan's garage. My office in particular is located on the second floor of our rented space, the far left corner upon walking in."

"See you when it's done," I said taking it from him. Giving a quick nod to Garrus on my left, I started to head back toward the lobby elevator that would take us back down.

"Oh, and do try to keep the blood stains off the carpet would you?"

* * *

"We should go find Shepard. She'd know what to do," Garrus said as we exited the lift.

"That waaas the original plan," I replied.

"And it's changed?" Kaidan questioned.

"Yeah. You guys are right, we don't want to kill anyone just because they wanted some extra credits."

"We don't? WE should just go in there, grab what we want, and put down anyone stupid enough to get in our way."

"Why would we not inform the Commander about this?"

"Because Kaidan, Shepard isn't exactly the person you'd want for a delicate situation like this."

"It's easy. Just aim your gun and shoot."

"What? What are you talking about?" Kaidan badgered as we walked down a flight stairs.

"Are you serious? Dude, she shoots anything that _looks_ at her funny. What do you think will happen when she goes into that office?" I found Kaidan looking at me now like I was crazy. Shocked, I turned to Garrus. "Back me up on this. Shepard would kill everyone in that room, no questions asked."

"Well...Shepard does tend to use excessive force...when the situation calls for it."

"I'm telling you, it'd be as easy as taking candy from a Salarian."

"What? She knocked out a reporter because she looked at her funny!"

"I have to admit, if I was Shepard, I probably would have done the same thing," Garrus replied.

"Khalisah had been denouncing the Commander and her actions for years. I wouldn't have gone as far as she did but I wouldn't say the Commander's action was unwarranted."

"She's a violent psychopath!"

"She seems normal to me."

"This coming from the bloodthirsty Krogan! Are you guys playing with me right now?!"

"I'm calling her Shield," Kaidan said, bringing a finger to his earpiece.

"Fine! Don't come crying to me when this whole thing turns into a Tarantino film."

"Tarantino? Haven't heard that name before," Garrus responded as we entered the hallway leading to the garage and our destination. "Are their films good?"

"Uh...yeah. I guess. Usually. Wrex would probably like them."

"Shepard?" Kaidan radioed her again. "Shepard you there?"

"Yeah," she replied as we rounded the corner.

"Commander!" Kaiden replied shocked. I had to say I was too. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," the red-headed Spectre replied, putting her hands on her hips. "Did you get a pass to the garage?"

"Actually, we were just about to," I cut in. "If we do this favor for someone, they can get us one."

"What's the favor?"

* * *

**Moments Later**

Although the elevator was significantly larger than the ones we originally took down, we were all still a little cramped. Shepard's elbows were jabbing my sides, I was being pressed up against Ashley, and in front of me, Garrus' fringe was close to poking my eyes out. I had to dodge a couple times as he turned his head.

"What happened with you and the Administrator," Kaidan asked as our lift began to ascend.

"We asked for clearance to leave but...the blizzard has all shuttles grounded and he refused to give us surface access. We stated our case but the bastard still didn't budge."

"Did you try twisting his arm a little?" Garrus asked.

"More than a little. Like I said, he didn't budge."

"So what were you doing in the garage then?" Kaidan wondered.

"Tali thought we might be able to get a pass from one of the mechanics that worked there," she replied.

"Smart thinking," Garrus replied.

"Or so we thought. We only ended up finding the chief mechanic. And he refused to let us borrow his."

"Was afraid of being 'sued into the next spiral arm' if he did," Ashley added.

"That's when we ran into all of you," Tali said next.

"We did learn however from our talk with Anoleis that Benezia is here on Saren's orders. Saren's a major investor of a company called Binary Helix, which has a laboratory located on Peak 15," Shepard further explained.

"Do you think they're helping him find the Conduit?" Kaidan asked.

"We're sure as hell going to find out," she replied.

"Wait," I spoke up, as the thought came across my mind. "Anoleis' secretary, Parasini..."

"What about her?"

"Did she not mention that you guys should go talk to someone?"

"Yeah, Lorik Qui'in. But you were all already talking to him weren't you?"

"Yeah...we were," Garrus replied looking over his shoulder at me.

Then the elevator music came on. As the tune began to fill the space, the topic was just kind of dropped. We rode the rest of the ride up in silence, listening to it. I found myself oddly calm, in contrast to what we were about to do. In just a couple-

The elevator suddenly stopped and its doors slid open.

-seconds, we're going to have to shoot our way through a crap load of mercenaries.

As we started filing out of the elevator, two ERCS guards in black plated armor noticed our arrival whipped their guns around to face us.

"FREEZE! Hanshan security! This office is sealed. Turn around and go back the way you came!"

As the first one out of the elevator, Shepard responded first. "What will you do if we don't?"

The woman nervously glanced at her Turian companion before answering Shepard. "You're the Spectre right? Lorik Qui'in is under investigation."

"I heard Anoleis is paying you to shake this place down. That makes you a criminal. I can kill criminals." The crimson armored Spectre brought her sidearm up and cocked it half-heartedly.

"You're bluffing." The guard didn't seem so sure saying it though.

"You're right. They're actually going to let me eat you."

Hearing Wrex's comment, the guard's eyes grew as large as dinner plates, desperately trying to recall whether or not it was an urban myth that Krogans actually did that.

"When the wager is one's life, is calling the bluff really so wise?" Liara chimed in.

Before she replied, I noticed the Turian guard behind her glance quickly to his left, behind the wall that blocked our view for the rest of the room.

_Oh shit._

"He ain't paying me enough-"

The Turian raised his gun inch by inch as she lowered hers.

_Oh shit._

"-Alliance troops or whatever-"

"WAIT!" I shouted, holding up my hands. The Turian's attention affixed to me in alarm. "Don't do it," I said staring at him.

"Do what?" he played innocent.

"Shepard," Ashley whispered behind us. The red-head looked at the marine than up the stairs Ashley motioned to on our right. A gunman was peeking around the top of the stairwell's corner, already training his weapon on us.

"How much is he paying you? This is a fucking Spectre you guys!" I ended up yelling to the entire room.

"Shield. Shut the hell up," Shepard hissed at me, not failing to break eye-contact with the ERCS goon.

"Are you all really willing to die over a thousand credits?!"

"He's just paying us a couple hundred," the Turian replied warily, gun now pointed unabashedly in our direction. On the balcony above him, I now noticed a sniper also trained on our position.

"Do you see that insignia," I said pointing to the crest on Shepard's shoulder. "She's. A. Council. Spectre." I said as slowly as possible to really bring it home. "A person so deadly that they're chosen specifically out of thousands by the Council themselves to stop galactic threats. And hell, this is a thousand year old Krogan battlemaster," I said jabbing a finger back at Wrex. "And an Asari Commando, and two N7 marines, and a Quarian tech whiz, and the famed mercenary Archangel, who took down three gangs on Omega simultaneously."

"Who?" the Turian and Garrus both asked.

"Half the people behind me are biotics, on par with Asari Matriarchs," I now started to shout again, so every hidden merc in the room could hear me. "As soon as you down their shields guys, they're just gonna bring up a barrier immediately after! You're not even gonna be able to touch them!"

Miraculously, Kaidan, Wrex, and Liara took that as their cue to all glow blue to demonstrate.

"You all have on a count to three to lay down your weapons and leave!" Shepard shouted.

"Do you all really want to give up your lives for some sleazy executive who couldn't give a damn what happens to you!? Hell, he's extorting your own fucking company!"

"Three."

"Is a handful of credits really worth dying over?!"

The Turian narrowed his eyes. The female guard next to him was wild-eyed now, clearly in a state of panic.

"Two!"

"Think about how you're breaking the law! No wait! Think of your families! Is this worth your lives!?"

"ONE!"

"Alright!" the Turian in front of us shouting throwing down his weapon. His associate immediately mimicked him, seemingly scared shitless by the standoff. "Come on guys!" he shouted behind him. "No one be stupid! It's a fucking Spectre!"

The sniper on the balcony above peered through his rifle for a couple more moments before standing back up and putting the gun back over his shoulder. The symphony of folding guns followed throughout the room.

"Hey, we're putting away our guns alright?!" a guy shouted walking down the stairs with his hands up. "Don't shoot!"

Shepard motioned to the elevator with her gun. Despite their replies, none of the Normandy crew put away theirs. After an extremely stressful six minutes, five ERCS guards had entered the elevator behind us without incident. And we were told the three others had taken the other lift upstairs out. As the doors to their elevator closed, we all just kind of stood there in disbelief.

"Huh," Ashley said finally breaking the silence. "Nobody died."

"I could shoot someone if it would make you feel better."

"Nah, I'm good."

Shepard gave an obligatory leer at me before silently walking up the stairwell to the second floor. As we all followed her, Garrus took it upon himself to walk up beside me. "You've ever thought about working for C-Sec's special response unit Shield?"

"Can't say I have," I replied rubbing the back of my neck. "I still can't believe that went so well," I admitted.

"Yes, I can't believe we were able to talk them down," Tali quietly agreed behind us.

"I can't believe I haven't gotten to fire my gun once since we got here," Wrex grumbled in front. "It would've been faster to shoot them."

"Though I have to ask Shield, what was that about an Archangel back there?"

"Oh...just...something I made up. Thought it sounded more menacing than an Ex C-Sec cop," I meekly replied.

"Fair enough," Garrus said as we reached the top of the steps.

"And who the hell said I was a thousand?" Wrex huffed as we followed Shepard toward Qui'in's office.

"Are you not?" I asked.

"Hey, I'm still young. I'm still with it. I'm only eight hundred and twenty seven."

"Keelah," Tali remarked. "I didn't realize Krogan lived so long."

"How do you even get out of bed in the morning...old man?" Garrus quipped.

Wrex bared his teeth as he answered his question. "Sometimes, I wonder that myself. Then I usually just remind myself about that one time someone tried to wipe out my entire race. That usually gets the ol' blood pumping. Who was responsible for that again? In my old age, my memory has been seeming a little hazy..._Turian._"

Garrus narrowed his eyes at the Krogan. Before they actually got into a spat, all four of us were distracted with the sudden sound of gunshots that erupted from Qui'in's office. Moments later, Kaidan followed Shepard out with a monitor in his arms, several bullet holes located in its screen.

"Looks like we're done here," I said with a smile. Before I was able to turn around though, Shepard suddenly grew hostile and whipped her gun out, aiming it at my face. "Shepard," I muttered, feeling the blood drain from my face. I don't know what warranted it but if I didn't choose my next words carefully-

"Yeah, I think you all _are_ done here." With my eyes widened in surprise, I slowly turned around to face the direction the voice had come from. Behind me, I found the voice belonged to none other than the blonde woman we had run into before. One Sergeant Stirling. Not that I should have been surprised at all with her appearance. "I don't think any of you are supposed to be here," Stirling smirked, cocking her shotgun. The four ERCS guards followed suit behind her.

Pushing her way past us, Shepard simply replied, "You plan on making me leave?"

"Leave?" the blonde scoffed. "You think I'm going to let you walk out? Uh-uh. Anoleis is paying me a fortune for this job here-"

"A couple hundred credits is a fortune to you?" Ashley burst out.

"That's the rate he's paying the others. Mine goes a little higher than theirs."

"We don't have to do this," I quickly pointed out.

"If she wants a fight, we'll give her one," Shepard replied, conjuring a blue sphere in her left hand, aiming down the pistol in her right.

"You talk the talk," Stirling said, suddenly glowing blue as well. I definitely didn't remember her being a biotic in the game. "But let's see if you can walk the walk, especially after I break your legs."

"Hold up!" I said pushing myself in front of Shepard, while maintaining eye-contact with Stirling.

"Do you want to die Shield?!" the Spectre barked at me.

"Anoleis is paying you to find Lorik Qui'in's evidence right?!" I said exasperated to the corrupt cop. She just stared at me with her arm cocked back, definitely about to release some kind of mass effect field at us. "We already destroyed it," I said motioning back to Kaidan and the scrap he was holding. "And we didn't even kill any of your guys to do it! Look, can't we just scrape this all under the table and call it squaresies?"

"I ain't being paid to let you all destroy company property," she pointed out.

"You won't be paid at all once you're dead," Wrex replied.

"Big talk coming from an overgrown lizard."

"Stirling, you're outnumbered eight to five," I reminded her. "Anoleis is corrupt, and Qui'in has the evidence to prove it. He won't even be able to pay you because he'll be put behind bars."

"Shield-" Ashley began to say.

"This is pointless violence!" I cut her off, "and it's gonna end with someone winding up dead!"

Stirling glanced at me quickly before returning to stare down Shepard. An ERCS guard aimed further down his scope. The biotic aura around Shepard was now pulsating wildly, which the sergeant's also mimicked. My chest felt like a drum, my heart beating wildly with the Mexican standoff.

"Do you really want to die over some corporate asshole!? If everyone just-"

A giant biotic wave was suddenly released, causing a bright blue hue to illuminate the entire office. As I gasped in response, an ERCS guard loosed a shotgun volley, which was aimed entirely in my direction. I felt it hit me in its entirety.

_Fuck._

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Eyes in the Noveria Development Corporation**

/18:01/ Secure Comm Buoy #54789254 / Encrypted / #5546 - DJ - 710

Sender: Agent Gellix

The NDC is a holding company that claimed the planet Noveria with the combined capital of two dozen major high-technology companies. Because of the NDC's ownership, Noveria is a privately-chartered colony without input from any Citadel race's government, and therefore is not legally part of Citadel space. And as the observer for this system, you know how easy it is for us to get information and contacts there. Bribery and back-room deals are the norm rather than the exception. We have moles in all twenty four corporations, along with influence over several executive officers in (but not limited to) Binary Helix, Elanus Risk Control Services, Exogeni, Genex Chemical, Guanghui Solutions, Heyuan Genomics, Serrice Council, Sonax Industries, Synthetic Insights, and Van Allen Belts.

So I want to know why I first heard that the SSV Normandy docked at Port Hanshan from a fuckin' warehouse worker. You're supposed to know the in's and out's of the entire Pax system! You have the agents and manpower to know everything about anything! You should know it all, from what corporation is currently fooling around with AI technology to when Administrator Anoleis decides to take a damn potty break! You should have had that frigate marked as soon as it entered the cluster! I won't report your slip-up to the Broker Operative Buzan, but these types of mistakes tend to result in one losing their position fairly fast. And you might lose more than just your position if a mistake like this happens again. Agent Gellix out.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**I apologize for the recent lack of updates. School and all that. We'll see if I can get more out now that things are beginning to wind down. Anyways, hope you guys have been having a great day, and until the next~**

**In the Next Chapter: I want off this world. **

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	28. Offhand Outbursts

When you find yourself deep in the shit...like...REAL deep...flung headfirst into the metaphorical pile of elephant-sized dung that is undoubtedly a shitty situation without warning, where your immediate reaction is to be confused, frightened, shocked even with the events happening around you...it's hard to remember where exactly things went wrong. And I can tell you right now...things had gone _pret-ty_ wrong.

I had raised my hands reflexively, in a futile defense to save my self, though that in itself had served no purpose. My kinetic barriers deflected whatever slugs had been aimed in my general direction. And I didn't have much time to register or even enjoy the fact I was still alive however, as I quickly felt someone wrap their arms around my waist next. And then subsequently throw me to the ground.

An "Ow!" escaped my lips as my head collided hard with the cold metal floor. And upon hearing it, my savior politely responded "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Put on your frikkin' helmet!" she next yelled into my ear. But I unfortunately didn't have time to respond before Ashley had already popped back up from where she had tackled me. The ridiculously loud dakka-dakka-dakka sound coming from her assault rifle only added to the already raucous symphony of firing guns now resounding throughout the room.

Sch-womp.

Another flash of bright blue illuminated the office around us, and I looked up to see an ERCS guard sail over our heads.

"One down!" Kaidan shouted as he rushed by us, apparently having already gotten rid of Lorik's destroyed computer. And as he did, I finally processed what Williams had just told me. I quickly reached around to my back, and removed the helmet attached to my waist.

"Shepard watch out!" Liara yelled glowing blue, hurrying past Ashley and I next.

The sound of mass effect fields followed immediately after, happening in concert with more flashes of purple and violet lights. And I had to admit, mass effect fields made pretty baller light shows. But my attention really should have been elsewhere. I suddenly found that Ashley was crouching back down beside me once again, making good use of the potted plant we were hiding behind for cover. "You planning on joining us anytime soon?" she yelled, switching the smoking rifle in her hands for another on her back.

In response, I jammed the helmet over my head, hopped on my knees, and drew the lancer she had personally given me prior. "How many?!" I yelled at her next.

"A lot!" Ashley shouted back. Then she glanced around the corner. "Cover me!"

_Oh fuck._

Before I could respond, she had already rolled out of cover, out into the open hallway of the office. Nutting up, I gritted my teeth, tightened the grip I had around my rifle, and popped out of cover to oblige her, shooting my gun at the first thing I saw move. Which turned out to be an armored marine with bright red hair, crimson red armor, and a noticeable Spectre insignia on her right arm. Oops.

Luckily, I had never fired an automatic weapon in my life, and the weapon's muzzle climb immediately overwhelmed my arms. Unfortunately, I was only able to stop firing once the entire clip had been emptied into the ceiling. Following that, I quickly ducked back down before Shepard realized that I was the one that had just hit her shields. And back behind cover, I reeled with what I had just done, assault rifle still hissing in my hands. I decided then and there that I should probably refrain from ever using that ever again. Who knew that you actually needed fire-arm training for one of these? Hyperventilating at this point, I quickly folded the rifle back over my shoulder, and swapped it out for the trusty Predator I had at my hip. The only gun I apparently knew how (or cared) to use. Bullets were still whizzing overhead as I took my time to cock it.

Because before I decided to do anything rash (again), I thought that my next best course of action was to actually evaluate what the hell was going on around me. I really didn't feel like open firing on one of the gang again. Upon reaffirming that would be the correct action to take, I quickly peeked out from the fern I was hiding behind. And the first thing I saw upon leaning out was that Ashley had made it to safety, which led me to of course sigh in relief. If she had taken a bullet due to my ineptitude...I don't know if I could have forgiven myself. It would have been sickening in fact. Shaking it off, I took note that she was now taking cover with Kaidan, behind a flipped table on the right side of the balcony before me. And I already knew from my last action that to their left, Shepard was hiding behind another potted plant with Liara. Luckily coinciding with the completion of my survey, I ducked back down behind my own as a biotic field was sent flying toward me.

"Kaidan, she has too much support! I need a lift on their position!"

"I can't get a target Commander! And they have more reinforcements coming up from below!"

And apparently Stirling was still alive, and still launching the occasional biotic field at us. _She_ was bunkered down behind a crate guarding the stairwell leading back down to the first floor, where more ERCS guards were storming up from below to join her. Crouching anxiously behind my own receptacle of vegetation, I now looked back to see what the rest of the crew was doing, whereupon I found Tali, Garrus and Wrex still on the narrow walkway between Lorik's office and Synthetic Insight's main work space. All doing their best to work both arenas of battle. Their position was precarious, being able to draw fire from both the second AND first floor. But it was a pretty convenient location for them too, as they all seemed to be faring pretty well, getting up occasionally from their crouched positions to fire at both the ERCS below and across from us. They'd pop up, unleash a tech attack, take down a barrier, drop a guard (I assume), then pop back down. Or Garrus and Tali were at least.

Wrex just had his hump up against the walkway's parapet, refusing to follow the routine of the other two, seemingly grumbling to himself about something or other. In the middle of dismissing him, I was just about to return my attention to the firefight before I noticed the Krogan suddenly stand up and turn around to face the open office space below. His shields flared as they stopped a couple bullets from hitting his face, but they seemed to cease when they realized what was now staring them down. Then with a shout so loud that it seemed to silence the room, the alien bellowed "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" and immediately after, vaulted the waist-high wall, leaping what I could only imagine to be about fifteen feet, enveloped in a brilliant violet aura. I shit you not, Wilhelm screams broke out almost as soon as he did. Garrus and Tali just kinda sat where they were, obviously dumbfounded too, staring at where the Krogan had just been.

"GRENADE!"

Stirling's voice.

I peeled my eyes back off of Garrus and Tali, and returned my attention to the battle ahead of me on the second floor. I deduced that it was Ashley now who had just thrown a frag grenade beside Stirling's cover. Not a second passed before my jaw had already dropped in surprise when blue immediately enveloped it after. I couldn't even hear the grenade exploding over the gunfire, but even with the noise absent, I doubt I could have anyway. Stirling's mass effect field mitigated any real damage that the explosive could've done. And Ashley, who was peering around her cover when it happened, ended up just mouthing the word "shit."

"Get some suppressing fire on their left! And where's our Krogan?!"

"Negative on both those Commander! There's too much heat!"

_This is going nowhere. _

Garrus and Tali were taking the occasional potshot. Liara and Shepard were pinned, having the largest focus of enemy fire on their position. They'd activate a barrier, but it didn't last long enough for them to actually take a merc down. Or from what I could see in any case. And Kaidan and Ashley were able to fire back and kill one or two, sure, but most of their major plays were just deflected by Stirling's biotic abilities. The only person probably making any waves was Wrex down below. But one against however many there were on the first floor didn't exactly seem promising either.

No, like Shepard said...we didn't have any more time to waste.

"Hold back!" Shepard cried over the radio. "On me!"

_Hold back? Hell Naw!_

I wanted to get out of this damn place like thirty minutes ago. Instead, here we were, stuck in a crappy rendition of a western shootout. No...now was the time for action. Now was the time for _drastic _action. My helmet's HUD read that I had 11 shots currently left in my gun's clip, and that in addition, my shields were at 99%. Which meant that it was as good as it was going to get.

_Gravy._

Only one more thing crept through my mind as I cocked my Predator and began to stand, leaving the safety of my potted plant. And that one thought I had going through my mind was how lucky I was to have my secret weapon. A super power really I began to realize as I voiced its name in my head.

_Adrenaline Rush._

Out of cover, everything looking beige, being able to even seemingly track the bullets flying through the air, I decided to aim and shoot at the first ERCS merc I saw. The contorted look of surprise he had on his face as my bullets suddenly started pelting his shield was priceless. I'm pretty sure he was mostly startled by the fact that there was another soldier they hadn't noticed, but I guess the oncoming dread of being killed partly attributed to that too. Can't say a similar feeling wasn't rushing through my entire being as I did either. But it was do or die here. Regardless, I pulled my gun's trigger for a fourth time, whereupon his shields broke, sending the man staggering backwards. And I found myself smiling as he did, only being able to think:

_DAMN THIS IS EASY-_

DU. DU. DU. DU. DU.

As my initial target began to dive back down to the ground with his shields gone, his comrades now directed their fire in my direction. And instead of hitting the floor, I could only turn my eyes to my assailants in shock. Three other guards had popped up from behind the cover, and were all focusing their fire entirely on me.

81%. 72%. 59%. 22%.

The numbers changed every time they flashed, and it wouldn't take a genius to know that my shields were draining. Fast. I gritted my teeth as I continued to stand where I was, trying not to recoil at their fire, scared out of my fucking mind that my lifeline was actually going to sputter out any second. I turned to aim my pistol half-assed in their general direction, trying to return fire, make them back down...but time was slowed for me, how I imagined someone moving at the speed of sound might see. My main assumption during this exchange was that I could fire faster than they could. Take down their shields before mine. Kill them before they killed me. But I think the real truth however was that I was rather just instinctively reacting out of fear, realizing that even now, with my ungodly fast reflexes, I still couldn't duck back down before they did the same thing I did to their buddy.

This was the moment I was going to find out if I had one ups in this world, though the palpable dread in my body seemed to tell me that-

"NOOOOW!" Shepard shouted in slow-mo.

BOOM.

Before my original target had ducked fully undercover, his head suddenly exploded in a unnecessarily protracted display. It was like watching a watermelon that was dropped from a balcony explode upon hitting the ground, and gruesomely, I was able to track every piece that split off upon impact. Horrifying really, and I could immediately feel my lunch creep back upon witnessing it.

"Sccrrraaaatchhh oooone!" Garrus' voice sluggardly followed.

9%.

One instant they were all in cover, and the next, I could feel that the Normandy's eclectic eight were out in the open once again, all standing up, all returning fire, all of them putting down the men across from us. And as they did, my vision returned to normal, the deafening sound of regular-paced gunfire immediately hitting my ears not a moment later. And unfortunately for them, the enemy side lit up in blue as all their shields dissipated at once.

Sch-WOMP went another guard as Kaidan lifted them up in the air. That guard was riddled with bullets by Ashley.

3%.

Sch-WOMP went two more as Liara threw down a singularity. Those two were done in by carnage shots from Shepard and Tali.

And badda-bing, badda-boom, just like that, we had just cleared the second floor of hostiles. And just in time too I believe, as my shields currently sat at 1.5%. Oh scratch that. Literally 1%. I let out a nervous laugh, as that was a little too close to zero for my taste.

SCH-WOMP.

I was thrown backward with the blast, back onto my butt that is, as the biotic missile annihilated my remaining shield.

_Ow._

And of course_ she_ was still alive. Sterling threw that warp at me with a fire in her eyes. Her entire team killed, her only objective failed, and now she was left completely outmanned, completely outgunned, and completely outplayed. Most people, sane people, would call it quits with the odds stacked so against them, escape to live and fight another day. Not her. The ERCS sergeant was caught up in the moment, the thrill of the fight, shooting her shotgun at anything that moved in the chaos, following up each shot with a biotic field launched in one of our general directions. Stirling was born a fighter. And now she would die as one. She didn't even notice Wrex as he walked up behind her, and thus, could do nothing when he pulled his gun's trigger. The shotgun blast that echoed throughout the room had the sergeant's eyes grow wide with shock. As the shot staggered her forward, coughing up blood, it wasn't a surprise when she took one last gasp for air and shortly after, slumped lifeless over the crate in front of her. As I pushed myself off the floor, hot with sweat, heart about to claw its way out of my chest, reeling from being literally a couple bullets away from death, I took one more look at the office before me. And from that look, I found the whole scene resembling something out of a Tarantino film. A truly sickening sight to see. Blood spatter everywhere, bodies slumped over the carpets and the furniture, one guy with his head missing...gruesome stuff. It almost made me heave. Again. I was glad as hell I was wearing a helmet because I could only imagine the horrible smell the room must have now too.

Whrrrrrrp went my shields as they reset themselves.

"Hope that paycheck was worth it," Wrex growled over the dead body. Then the Krogan looked back up to us. "You ladies ready to leave yet?"

We were all leaving cover as Wrex said it, knowing he had already cleared out whatever mercs had been on the first floor too. And as I got up to approach the group gathering around the stairs, the one named Shepard turned around to look at me harshly in particular.

"What the HELL is wrong with you?!" she said angrily in my direction.

Little did she know, now that I was no longer distracted by people shooting at me, I had the time to become as equally pissed. "What the hell is wrong with ME? What the hell is wrong with YOU?!" I said pointing a finger in her direction. "She was about to leave without any trouble! I almost had her! Why the HELL did you attack them!?"

The comment actually had her flinch. But the look she had on her face conveyed that it was only out of disbelief. "You're on this mission with ME! You follow MY lead when we're on the ground, not the other way around, you hear me?" she yelled back crazy-eyed. "Unless I tell you to, you don't open your damn mouth in front of enemy combatants. And I swear, if you block my shot one more time, I'll treat you like the one that _should_ be on its receiving end!" She looked back to the squad around her. "To the rest of you who actually did your duty, good work. But we still need to catch Benezia before she can leave Peak 15! Move out!" Wrex went down the stairwell first, followed by Shepard, Kaidan, Ashley and Liara. As I was left standing where I was, clenching my fist, Tali timidly hurried past to follow. The only one who commented on what had just happened was Garrus, who saddled up beside me with destroyed computer in hands.

"You shouldn't be angry with her," he said under his breath. "She saved your life."

At that comment, I turned to give him a callous look, eyes narrowed in outrage. "Garrus." I brought up my index finger and thumb in front of him, holding them an inch apart from one another. "She was this close to walking away. She was JUST about to-"

"-about to lift you in the air with her biotics."

"What."

He nodded toward the stairs and started walking. I reluctantly decided to follow. "I've seen plenty of biotics fight during my time at C-Sec. The way she had her palm drawn back, how her arm was cocked...it was definitely you she was aiming for. She was going to lift you in the air, where you would have been helpless. And then those guards behind her would have finished the job."

I tried not to look at the body as we passed it, beginning our descent down the stairwell. "I had shields," I muttered back. "She wouldn't have been able to. And you don't know that. You don't know that for sure."

"The merc behind her had an overload primed, Shield. It's a common tactic. Overload shields and then biotic fields. And Shepard's an experienced marine. She saw what was about to happen, and stopped it."

I stopped before the last step. "Well...then Shepard should have let her."

"What?" he replied, stopping too, turning around to face me.

"You don't know if she actually was or not! You don't know that she was-"

"But what if she did?" he replied cutting me off angrily. "You'd have been in the air and shot dead before we could have reacted. Instead of eight, it would be seven of us coming back down here right now. Sometimes Shield, it's safer to shoot first and ask questions later."

"How about none of the time," I replied angry. "Those were actual people we just killed. Not robots. Not intergalactic terrorists. Just regular people doing their jobs-"

"They were criminals. You saw them. They tried to kill us first chance they got. Even the ones that got the chance to leave came back in!"

"Because we attacked them First!" I replied angrily. "You shouldn't kill someone just because there's a _chance _that they could-"

"What the hell's taking you two so long!?" Shepard yelled around the corner, probably waiting in the elevator already with everyone else.

I looked at Garrus once more before briskly walking ahead. This conversation would be shelved for later. Instead, I now prepared myself for one awkward elevator ride back down to Port Hanshan.

* * *

Gianna confronted us as soon as we left the elevator, and like Shepard, I wasn't in the mood to waste anymore time. I sped up the conversation so we didn't have to meet her all the way back in the hotel lobby, and in the process, 'persuaded' Shepard to help her take down Anoleis as well. When we met back up with Qui'in at the bar, he was content with the smoking pile of scrap we showed him. In addition, Shepard was also able to convince him in testifying.

Ten minutes later in the Administrator's office, and boom, we were watching Gianna drag the Salarian across the room in omni-cuffs. In the few seconds I met him, Anoleis immediately came across as a butt munch. Kicking around, throwing insults, yelling about lawsuits. Real turd. As she escorted him out, Gianna even had a witty one-liner and mentioned that she owed us all a beer. Cool gal. Definitely wished I was currently working with her instead.

And so, with its corruption rectified, a key pass obtained, and Anoleis gone, Port Hanshan was soon to be in our rear view mirror. Operation: Leave this dump was a semi-success.

On our way back to the garage however, as we walked past the elevator for Synthetic Insight's office again, I found the outcome in that office still perturbed me. Even after how everything turned out. Or how everything turned out downstairs anyway. Thirteen people shot dead. Bodies just left where they lay. Lorik Qui'in assuredly having more than just bloodstains to worry about. And I thought about why.

_Sure they were corrupt, tried to kill us...nearly killed me but...oh my god...was it because they were Human?_

I tried hard to think back, on the fire fights I've been thrust into so far. There was Eden Prime, Therum, Asteroid 57...and the Citadel alleyway and Nepheron.

_...I really haven't killed a Human before. I shot at Cerberus on Nepheron but I didn't kill any of them...did I? ...No...I didn't. Is that really why I feel so sick about it? Because they weren't aliens? Because Humans are realer to me than a Turian or Batarian? Or..._

_Or is it rather because I subconsciously worry about just repeating the events of the game, simply sitting along for the ride, not actually contributing to anything as we land at each world, and while Shepard solves problems; resign all the people, all the victims in the game, to still meet their horrid, meaningless predetermined fates even though I have the power to change them?_

_...woah. Probably that. My problem was definitely that. Where did that come from?_

"I'm sorry, access to the garage is restricted," the ERCS guard told Shepard, holding up a hand. After our last encounter, everyone seemed to immediately put their claws on their weapons, ready for another fight.

"I have authorization," Shepard said, holding out the pass. As the guard looked down, she walked past her, adding a curt "Excuse me."

"Oh, that looks genuine," the woman said as we all started to pass her too. "Drive safely! The weather's supposed to be pretty bad in the Aleutsk Valley."

"Thanks!" I replied for everyone as the last to pass and actually acknowledge her. And now that we were in the garage, I realized too little too late it was time for more action. Not a minute after entering, a Geth hopper jumped onto the ceiling above us. Its laser downed Wrex's shields before anyone had a chance to react.

"GETH!"

"So that's what the Asari had in those crates," Wrex added before launching a carnage shot at the Geth in return.

"We've got more company!" Kaidan shouted next. "Big company!"

Which, of course, referred to the giant Geth Prime charging in at us.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Shepard shouted, as she started sprinting to the left side of the room. Which basically meant 'split up gang!'

As everyone divided up to find their own cover, I decided to follow the closest person to me, which happened to be Liara. I rolled into cover beside her, which happened to be behind one of the large vehicles in the room.

"Garrus, Tali, I need those shields dropped!"

"Read you loud and clear!"

"Ashley, come with me! We're flanking them!"

"I'm with you Commander!"

"Wrex! Kaidan! Hit them with some lifts once they're down!"

"On it!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!"

Unhampered by the conditions and layout of the cramped office, _the squad_ got to work. Divide and conquer, shock and awe, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. The garage had enough space for each member of _the_ _squad_ to do their own unique thang, take part in their own particular style of combat without interfering with one another. And the result from that was chaos. Geth shields blowing out left and right, biotic fields flying all across the room, gunfire being unleashed from every corner. I popped up a few times and was able to bag a Geth myself, but clearly, Shepard was the main reason why we were able to make any progress at all. Her orders helped us clear the room of the synthetic scum not long after it started, giving some semblance of teamwork to the mayhem. The whole battle though definitely turned out much shorter than the one upstairs.

I stood back up, lowering my pistol, as Ashley yelled the one thing that I always liked to hear.

"Clear!"

Then additional yelling also occurred.

"What did you do here Commander?!"

Shepard obnoxiously took her time in turning around and sauntering over to the entrance to answer the Captain's question. "Nothing out of my job description."

"There were Geth waiting for us in your garage," Kaidan elaborated.

"And you might not want to act so surprised," Shepard added, seeing the alarm on the Captain's face. "You may be seeing a lot more of these things pretty soon."

With that comment, Matsuo now attempted to process this new information. "For three centuries, everyone has said, 'the Geth don't leave the veil.' What is happening out there Commander?"

"You know the expression 'need-to-know basis?' " Shepard asked. "You don't need to know."

The woman just sighed in return. "Alright. Then I must report to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose Geth, there may be an investor panic," Matsuo remarked with concern, holding a hand against her forehead. Then she suddenly looked back up at Shepard. "There was also a break-in at Synthetic Insights' office. Several of my officers were found dead. Killed. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Her dark brown eyes stared intensely into Shepard's.

"Nope."

She frowned. "I do not believe you are being honest with me. But in the absence of proof, I believe I must take your word for it...if you excuse me," she now finished, making a motion to the entourage behind her. She took one more look over her shoulder before leaving the garage.

Shepard now turned back around to address us. Before she could however, Tali asked, "So where do we go from here Shepard? The Mako is still in the Normandy. And the shuttles are still grounded. We don't have transportation to take-"

"Actually," Shepard replied, "I think we do." She turned to look at the vehicle Liara and I had used for cover during the fight.

"M29 Grizzly. Haven't seen one of those in use for a while," Kaidan said aloud to no one in particular. "Really think they'd be alright with us taking one?"

"Who said anything about one?" Shepard asked, now looking at the other one further ahead.

Wrex and Ashley now had stupid grins across their faces. Liara and Tali seemed to have the opposite. Or so I guessed, with how Tali was postured anyway.

* * *

Shepard, Wrex, Ashley and Liara went into the first, and therefore, were also the first ones to exit the garage and enter the flurry. Kaidan, Garrus, Tali, and I trailed behind in the other. I found that the lighting inside the Grizzly was dark. Very dark in fact, much darker than the Mako. And I noticed that it couldn't seat as many as the Mako, having five seats in the back, and only one in the front, where Kaidan currently sat. The seats were cushioned however, which was a plus. Another difference I found between the Grizzly and the Mako too however was that the Grizzly's driver also happened to be its gunner. That disappointed Garrus but...oh well, that's life. I slipped on my seat belt as soon as I felt the vehicle lurch forward out into the valley of snow.

And maybe because it was closer to the ground, or maybe because it was designed for private use, but boy did the Grizzly have better suspension than the Mako. It was almost weird to not have my head constantly banging against the wall behind me. Closer to Kaidan, Tali and Garrus sat across from each other, theorizing about what Benezia might be looking for. Could have joined in on the fun but...I decided to just keep to myself for now. Enjoy the peaceful ride.

Which I meant to be a sardonic remark. But...NOPE. I honestly thought that Geth would be launching thousands of rockets at us any second. But lo and behold, ten minutes passed driving down the snowy highway, without Kaidan having to fire the Grizzly's gun even once. To be honest, that actually had me a little alarmed.

_Like...does that mean the Geth are grouping all their forces at 15? Does...are there going to be like five Geth armatures just lined up at the entrance?! ...Oh Jesus...Oh dear god I hope not. Where the hell are they?!_

"Hey Kaidan," I piped up.

"What is it Shield?" he replied.

"Has Shepard seen any Geth ahead of us? Doesn't it seem a little weird that-"

Then the vehicle's radio started beeping. "Hold on Shield," he said before answering it. "Commander?"

"Kaidan, check your radar. I think we've got a bogey coming up ahead."

I couldn't see it all the way from the back, but I assumed Kaidan was already looking at said radar. "...Okay, yeah, I see it. Is it big on your end too?"

"Yeah...looks like a colossus sized unit."

_Welp...you got what you asked for. I hope you're happy._

"We seem to be coming up on it pretty fast," Kaidan relayed.

"We should have it in view," we heard Shepard reply. "But this damn blizzard makes visibility practically nil."

The vehicle became silent again. Until Shepard spoke back up several moments later. "My radar's telling me its right in front of us now but...I still don't see anything."

Kaidan spoke warily now too. "Are you...did you just pass over it?"

"Yeah. Think it might have just been a metal deposit messing with the sensors. Got some actual bogeys ahead though. Guarantee these are actual Geth too. Prime the accelerator and get ready for a fight."

"Roger that Commander. I should be in range of them soon too. Just passing the depHRK-"

His comment was suddenly cut short by the vehicle's new direction. Up.

You know when you suddenly find yourself in a horrible, horrible, horrible accident, and as everything just goes wrong around you, you find that time slows down? Like slows down a lot? When, what in reality is a second, rather ends up feeling like an eternity? And even with everything slowed down (painfully slowed down), you still find that you're helpless to do anything about it? Like put your arms in front of you to cushion the blow, or you know, just scream in horror? Just frozen stiff, letting the terrifying situation unfurl before you? And this whole sensation just causes you to end up experiencing the whole catastrophe even longer than you would like? Like what happens in a car crash? I was experiencing exactly that now. A car crash that is. And the experience was nothing at all like my ol' reliable 'adrenaline rush'.

As our vehicle was thrusted off the ground, it started to turn. In fact, our vehicle was jerked so hard that it basically started to somersault through the air, spinning around and around and around and around...causing me to desperately fight with all my might not to puke. The force railing against my body as our Grizzly sailed through Noveria's sky almost had me pass out too. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all.

But like all parabolic motions, what goes up, must come down. So...then the vehicle began to fall back to the ground. The interior of the vehicle attained zero g, and I use the term zero g here, even though I don't really know the true definition for it, because it still seems like it would be a pretty apt descriptor for what was going on. Body feeling weightless and all that. And I barely had time to enjoy it before we next hit the ground. I thought I might have broken my neck with how it snapped during the landing. It hurt like a bitch. And then of course, after we collide with it, we rolled, and then rolled some more...eventually coming to a stop after, say, the fourth roll. Which was fortunate.

Only we were upside-down. Which was unfortunate.

The Grizzly's interior was dark, but little red lights inside suddenly came on to help illuminate it.

K-THUNK.

Garrus fell onto the floor (technically ceiling) of the vehicle, with all the grace of a gawky newborn giraffe, having just undone his seat belt. He slumped there, groaning.

K-THUNK.

Tali followed suit, not hitting the floor quite as loud, but still groaning all the same.

K-THUNK.

I undid my own seat belt and let gravity take me down as well. And as I ended up sprawled on the floor (technically ceiling) of the Grizzly, all I could do in my attempt to still not hurl was appreciate how great the seat belts had worked. Whoever patented them needed a pat on the back. Or a god-damn solar system. Dude saved our lives.

K-THUNK.

_God almighty, without them...every bone in my body would...would probably be snapped in half._

Cautiously shaking my head, attempting to overcome the shock of what just happened, I started to wonder what the hell did just happen. Then a small white circle appeared next to my left hand. And I stared at it. I stared at it good and long. Because I swear, every time I blinked, it seemed to get larger. And larger. And larger. It baffled me why the lights of the vehicle were just starting to come on now.

"Kai-*krrsshh*" came over my suit's radio.

Then, as I noticed a snowflake slowly descend onto my hand from above, I realized that no, the circle wasn't a light, it was actually just a hole in the ceiling (technically floor) of the vehicle. Then I heard a groan. Looking to my right, I found Kaidan still strapped into the driver's seat, only upside down. Then I realized that there were four K-THUNKs. The sound of four bodies hitting the floor.

"*krrssh*AR-*krrsssh*-right-*krssssh*"

I counted again.

Garrus.

Tali.

Me.

And.

And.

Then my attention was grabbed by a glob of green that had just dripped on my hand. The fingers of my hand, if you want to be more precise. Hearing louder groaning, I looked back toward the others, finding Garrus and Tali now just getting back on their feet, still trying to recover from our accident. Then came the pain.

As I looked back to my hand with a grimace on my face, believing that I was just now finding out that I broke my fingers, my face contorted into an even worse expression upon actually seeing them.

The green goo that had landed on them had created a hole in my armored glove. And that seemed to be said source of my pain. More globs of green started to drip down around the circle of white light, which was still growing bigger.

_What the fuuuuuuuck-_

As I was still trying to grasp the situation, caught between a sense of complete disbelief and utter horror, my ears suddenly picked up a sound. A shrill cry. A shriek if you will. A sharp-pitched sound that made my blood run cold and every hair stand on end. My head began to swim. My mouth became dry. I couldn't even feel my extremities anymore. As I looked up to the hole, which was still dropping green goo (although on the bright side, the hole itself had stopped growing), I figured that some of these symptoms were probably just due to the cold now entering the vehicle through it.

Then, moving my gaze back down from the hole to my left hand, still in a state of limbo, confused by what was going on around me, my eyes peeled themselves open. As wide as they could. I gagged. And then, I tried my best to not scream like a little bitch when I realized that my fingers had just dropped off.

Tried being the key word.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Noveria Peak 8 - Rented by Sirta Foundation**

Exchange recorded (15:57) between Arun Patel and Kaapo Okafor

AR: DOCTOR! DOCTOR!

KO: Arun, I know. I know. Doctor Kormun already informed me.

AR: *Panting from strenuous activity* I...the hot labs...it..

KO: No longer is of our concern.

AR: But...shouldn't we...*pauses to catch breath*..shouldn't we call for code omega-

KO: Shut your mouth Arun. There's no need for it.

AR: But the specimen-

KO: Has already escaped the Hot Labs and escaped into the tunnels below. Code Omega would do nothing to slow or stop it now. It would only condemn our research here and have the possibility of resulting in our terminations. Permanent terminations.

AR: So we're just going to-

KO: Go on as we have, yes. I've already sent for another specimen to be shipped here by corporate. We now know that coated meta-aramids still react with the creature's...discharge. I believe the pressure induced to break the material by its bio-waste's temperature is the cause. We'll rebuild the new containment structure with its coating supplemented this time by aliphatic polyamides. They should be key in that-

AR: Should we not even put out a warning or-

KO: That's ENOUGH from you Arun. I'll hear no more of this...Now, fetch me the reagents Bayer used in his most recent trials. I want to resume testing on-

End of exchange. Listening device short-circuited by the facility's VI.

**Inform agent of device's failure. Plant another with the following suggestions made attached to script.**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**First thing- Several chapters ago, I wrote that Parasini told us to find Lorik Qui'in in Noveria's hotel bar. Mistake! That meant, Port Hanshan had a hotel bar. Which ifto facto, meant that it also had an _actual_ hotel. So last chapter, I was kind of like oops, too late, just have to go with it. Oh well. But then, surprise! I learned later in another ingame line from Parasini that it actually was a hotel bar! So continuity kept intact. Crisis averted. And we all learn that Port Hanshan has an actual hotel on its premise. Checkmate suckers.**

**Also, for the curious, Shield's Official Kill Count is: 6 Geth, 1 Husk, 1 Turian, 2 Attack drones, and 1 Batarian. No Cerberus goons. No ERCS guards. Didn't kill any of the Humans trying to extort Dr. Michel's Clinic. So he is correct, he's only taken down robots and two living creatures so far.**

**Also, I have finals next week. So expect 0 updates. God have mercy on my soul. And I'll pray for yours too (for those reading this in late April-May).**

**Also, reviews I suppose:**

**Hachiko** \- Fair enough. Shield's a pretty ordinary guy, stuck in a pretty extraordinary world. Will it force him to grow into a more unique character as time goes on? Maybe. And will the plot eventually get unique? May be something that happens in the future (hopefully near). I understand that this story isn't for everyone, and I really do appreciate your insight on why that might not be. I do try to add some crack/humor/shenanigans/absurdity/irony/satire and misc. when I can but I'll be sure to work more on that too. Thanks for the compliment on my writing though!

**Guest** \- Thank you.

**Nate** \- I do love cliffhangers.

**LordGhostBuster** \- Yo, you're right, Shield really is being a whiny bitch at the moment. Dude needs to start going hard in the motherfuckin' paint ASAP. Fuck the ERCS! Damn Pigs. YOLO.

**Son of House Spicer, Ally to the Westerlings** \- Yeah...Shepard's also being a turd. But you gotta keep in mind, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But of course, you also have to remember, you catch more honeys being fly.

**DragonRider** \- I really DO love cliffhangers.

**Lan Trexler** \- And I don't know what April Fools joke you're talking about brah. If I did, I could only imagine that it was probably done in very, very, very poor taste.

**Thanks for the reviews gang! **

**Also, Shoutout to Nate for being my Beta Buddy.**

**In the Next Chapter: Snow. Snow. It rhymes with [insert rhyme here].**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	29. Zat Zany Zoology

Shepard felt her fingers tighten around the Grizzly's controls as she watched the rear-view feed, eyes wide with shock. The snow-covered pathway behind her had violently erupted upward in a flurry of ice and sleet, with Kaidan's vehicle now nowhere to be found. Before anyone could say a word, she slammed her foot down on the brakes and cut the wheel, drifting the vehicle back around. The three seated behind her didn't fail to let out various sounds of surprise as Shepard did so. Any questions they had as to why however were immediately answered, as Kaidan's Grizzly plummeted out of the sky before them not a moment later. Shepard watched with bated breath as the vehicle rolled across the snowy path, consumed with dread as the thing bounced up and down off the ground, before eventually coming to a full stop beside the valley's edge.

Her relief at the vehicle's cessation of movement was short-lived however, as the giant worm that had tossed said vehicle additionally spit a giant glob of acid at it.

"KAIDAN!" she yelled into the radio.

No response.

"By the goddess..." Liara whispered.

"Is that a Thresher?!" Williams exclaimed from the back.

"Kaidan are you alright!?" she shouted again.

"Shepard, they're dead," Wrex said matter of factly in his low guttural tone. "We have to keep moving."

She whipped her head around in response, emerald eyes burning with fury. Shepard admitted she had grown to respect the old lizard over their travels so far. The Krogan had proven himself invaluable in combat situations, as she could always rely on him to bludgeon through whatever opposition they faced. And for a Krogan, Wrex was oddly pragmatic, having an surprising abundance of advice to give, a far throw from the savage beasts most made his race out to be. The trait she had come to value most about the Krogan in particular though, was his brutal honesty. How he never sugarcoated a situation. His brusque input was something she had grown accustomed to having, and was one of the main reason she oft confided with him.

At this particular moment however, she didn't quite care for it.

"You don't know that," she responded adamantly. "We're not leaving him behind."

"We're stuck between a handful of Geth and a Thresher Maw Shepard. If you want to do something about it, I suggest you do it fast."

After that comment, Shepard could only grit her teeth in frustration, and break contact with the alien's blood red sclera. Returning her attention to the road ahead, Shepard had to begrudgingly concede that the alien was right, they didn't have any time to waste. As if to remind her, the worm before them let out a screech so loud that it reverberated throughout their entire vehicle.

"That creature is gargantuan!" T'Soni balked.

"I'm guessing it's around thirty five meters," Shepard opined. "Maybe forty."

"The one we came across on Edolus was just sixteen," Ashley added resoundingly daunted.

"What can we do to possibly frighten that creature away?" Doctor T'Soni asked panicked.

"Not a thing," Wrex answered.

The Commander was already hard at work as Wrex gave his reply, her fingers deftly tapping away at the interface before her. As her fingers danced upon the vehicle's instrumentation, the sound of grinding metal occurred above.

_Adjust the cannon's arc, double-check the shot's projected trajectory, burn the cooldown time-_

Shepard ran through the entire mental checklist in under a second, and at the moment she had finished, fired the IFV's axially mounted mass accelerator with a resoundingly loud _CRACK_. Almost instantaneously, the Thresher reeled with the resulting explosion, letting out another fearsome cry as the accelerated round detonated against its thorax dead center.

"I hope you know what you're doing Shepard," Wrex demurred. After the aftermath of the shot settled, it was clear to see that they now had the Thresher's full attention, which was obviously pissed with their interruption. "One wrong move and it'll flatten us. If we're lucky, we'll just end up cripples like that pilot of yours."

"Well I'm not spending the rest of my life on crutches," she shouted back, gunning the engine.

* * *

He jerked his head up and glanced over his shoulder. Like he thought, no one was there, just one long, dark, empty, uninviting hallway. But Joker could have sworn that someone just...

"What's up?" Emerson asked to his left.

The marine was the only other soul in the mess besides Joker, and had been playing with the mashed potatoes in front of him for like the last ten minutes. There the guy sat, just repeatedly poking his food with his fork, as if the mush might come alive and crawl away if he were to stop. It was pretty clear Hector was annoyed that he hadn't gotten assigned to the shore party. The boredom that was currently afflicting the marine though was something Joker was all too familiar with. As Shepard played hero and gallivanted around the planet, she left the rest of the SSV Normandy hanging around with nothing to do. It was hard in particular for him, as when Joker wasn't flying, he wasn't really doing anything at all.

The pilot turned his attention back to the man beside him nonchalantly, only to find Emerson looking at him with genuine concern. Joker looked aft, scratching his beard, pretending to give the question serious thought.

"The opposite of down?"

"Ha ha ha," Emerson replied sardonically. "You're hilarious."

"I try," Joker confided.

"Seriously, what's bothering you?"

Joker let out a sigh, then replied while leaning back, attempting to look past Emerson's shoulders. "...you didn't happen to hear anything just now...did ya?"

"Uh...no," the marine replied, looking over his shoulder to follow Joker's gaze. After seeing that no one was there, Emerson returned to face him. "I'm pretty sure we're the only ones here. Why? What did you hear?"

Joker sighed and looked back down at the brown slop on his tray, his ears still ringing. It was just some asshole trying to mess with him, probably Tanaka. He should just let it go, tried to...but he couldn't.

"Joker?" Emerson asked again, regaining his attention.

"I don't know Heck," Joker said taking another look behind him. "But I could've sworn someone just called me a-"

* * *

"CRIPPLE!" I yelled back at him. "LOOK AT ME!" I shot my left hand up in the air for all to see. That caused Tali to stop in her tracks, who was just in the middle of circumventing the acidic hole now growing in the middle of our vehicle's floor (ceiling).

"Shield, if we don't leave now, we're going to be killed!"

Kaidan was still pulling himself out of the Grizzly's cockpit, squeezing through the twisted metal that resulted from our impact with the ground. A cocktail of rage, despair, terror, and more rage flooded my mind as I looked at him, than back at my missing phalange. My hand made me look like I was trying to rock out at a concert instead of lying maimed inside a metal cage of death. Or like I was trying to do my best impression of Spiderman. I gripped my left hand as hard as I could in my other, returning to my previous motion of rocking back and forth on the ground in fetal position.

_Huuuuuh no. This can't be happening-_

"Shield! Get yourself together!"

Kaidan finally popped himself out of the driving compartment, rolling into the passenger area. Back at the other end of the vehicle was Garrus, motioning to Tali from outside, attempting to coerce her to continue toward the vehicle's backdoor exit. But...

_My hAAAAAAND-_

"That Thresher Maw's going to flatten us if we don't move...Now!"

From somewhere outside our vehicle, the behemoth let out another bone-chilling cry, most likely in response to the ear-splitting explosion that accompanied it. In response to the racket, I just curled up tighter on the floor.

"I don't care anymore! Fuck this noise!" I yelled back over the roar.

And at this point, I really didn't. I don't know why I was even doing this, ANY of this, anymore. The novelty of this bullshit had worn off on day numero uno. I was tired of all the crap I've gotten from the characters I've had to deal with on a regular basis. I was tired of all the crap I've had to put up with to just_ stay_ aboard the damn ship. And I was tired of all the crap I've endured trying to play the selfless Samaritan trying save the Galaxy.

_You know what? Yeah, fuck this shit. Here I am putting my ass on the line for trillions of innocent alien souls and for what? For Shepard to damage my person physically AND emotionally? As if enduring all that shit wasn't enough though, no, to top it all off, the universe decided to now add another big fucking heap of 'fuck you' onto the sad, sad story that is my life, by taking away the-_

"Yeah Shield, that sucks," Kaidan agreed, still standing right outside the cockpit he just crawled out from. "But get over it!"

_Did he-_

"I've seen dozens of injuries worse than that!"

_Get over it?_

"If you want to-"

_GET OVER IT-_

In a fit of rage, I snatched one of my severed fingers off the ground and chucked it at his stupid face.

Tink.

As the appendage bounced harmlessly off his helmet and fell to the floor, the vehicle fell silent. Tali took that as her cue to finally mosey on out and quickly jumped out the vehicle. Kaidan on the other hand, stayed where he was, just standing there, staring at me on the floor, deathly still, through his helmet's dark, orange, eerie, eyelets.

Then I blinked, and the next thing I knew, instead of standing several feet away, Kaidan was standing over me. Before I could say anything, he took me in his arms and hefted me off the ground, throwing me over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. I resisted at first, telling him "to leave me the fuck alone, you fucking fuckity fucker FUCK you." But as he ignored the noise, and simply continued onward to the vehicle's backdoor, I fell to silence rather quickly.

And as Kaidan leapt out of the Grizzly and into the blinding white blizzard, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved as he subsequently dropped me down into it. The freezing temperature of the snow soothed the burning stubs left on my hand, and I found the unceasing winter storm obscuring the environment around me oddly relaxing. And as I laid there in the snow, vision obscured by frost and sleet, howling wind swirling all around, seemingly alone, separated from all that was going on around me...I found it hard to remember why I had even been resisting. The white that blinded my sight took me to a happy place. A white wonderland where I could pretend I was alone, with not a care in the world. One where there was no one present to order me around. One where I didn't have to worry about imminent, life-threatening situations. One where I could pretend a giant worm wasn't screeching several yards away like a banshee, making every one of my hairs stand on end and my entire body shake uncontrollably in fear.

Before I knew what hit me, the cutting winds of winter finally arrived in full force, blowing away the wall of snow that had been stuck to my visor, returning me to my stark reality. The reality that I was currently laying uncomfortably close to the edge of a three hundred foot drop. I violently began to roll away from said cliff, as falling to my death was not on my current agenda.

And as I rolled to a stop several feet away from where the others were currently crouched however, I paused to reconsider. I never really put in any thought to it...but the plain fact was that every now and then, I see a window in my dreams that gives me a selection of particular skills. A particular set of skills that included overnight firearm training and the ability to slow down time. Shit that wasn't realistically attainable after a good night's rest. My presence in whatever reality this was obviously wasn't constrained by its pre-existing rules. These 'special skills' indicate that, in a sense, I defy some of the laws of reality here.

So if I really were to throw myself off that cliff...

_Would I start over from the beginning? As in the very beginning? That'd be nice. Or would it just be the start of this mission? Wake up in bed ready to go or at my locker right before we left?...Would I have my fingers back? That'd also be nice...I could just wake up after this is all over and the penalty would just be that I'd-_

"You ready?"

I cut that thought short, and slowly rotated my head around to face the man that had just spoken. I was, in fact, not ready, but he apparently wasn't asking me. Kaidan was looking at Garrus, who just nodded in affirmation, and Tali, who made a similar gesture. All three squad mates had their weapons out, locked and loaded, ready to do whatever he had just said. And here I was just lying on my back, chilling in the snow. I felt a little guilty for that.

But I seemed to be the one with the right idea as each one of them joined me on the ground, falling back on their asses not a moment later. Which was all thanks of course to the violent upheaval of earth that occurred below us. Whatever hare-brained scheme Kaidan had just cooked up was thrown out the window as the Thresher burrowed back underground.

"Thaaat's not good," Vakarian said pushing himself back up.

"Where'd it go?!" Kaidan blurted, already back on his feet, with a blue aura flared around him.

No one had time to respond to him however as the Thresher subsequently reappeared right over Shepard's Grizzly. Kaidan did have time to shout "NO!" very dramatically though as the worm took the entire vehicle into its actual maw. In spite of the Thresher trying to choke down the vehicle, and in spite of Kaidan loosing a few bullets in its general direction, I felt oddly calm. That in the end, everything was just going to be okay. All I had to do was reset.

I pushed myself up out of the snow and, after taking a deep breath, started taking steps backward. Although accidentally stepping off a cliff wouldn't exactly be theatrical, I don't think I could willingly throw myself off one. I have pretty bad acrophobia.

_So why the hell are you about to jump off a cliff asshole?!_

_So why am I...because this mission is a wash. We failed. We have to...reset._

_...are you fucking insane?_

I took the next step back a little more gingerly than the last.

_Well...no. My fingers fell off. All those mall cops still died. And now, Shepard, Liara, and Wrex are about to be killed. Arguably the Galaxy's three most influential persons on the squad. If they die-_

_Well that's why you're here isn't it? In case things go wrong? To right that shit?_

_...I...guess?_

_I guess?_

I paused before taking the next step back.

_But I'm maimed...and this is just Noveria. And we haven't even hit the Rachni. And at this rate I'm not even going to make it to Virmire. And if this really is all just a game then if I just-_

_But is this gamble worth it dipshit? What if you're wrong asshole?_

Kaidan was still emptying his gun of ammo on the Thresher, with Tali trying to get him to stop. Garrus stood next to him like a statue, unsure of what to do.

_I...but if I'm wrong...then it won't even matter. It'd be over-_

_I think you're just being a little whiny bitch._

_Well..._

_Well? The cost is too damn high fool._

And I was right. Not a second later, I forced myself to look back in the direction of the Maw,where I saw the worm still struggling to down Shepard's car when-

_sssshHBLAMM-BANG-BOO-BOOsh-BOOMSH-BWOOOOSH-KABOOM-BANG-BOOM-BOOSHCH-BOOSSSHHBOOOOOOM!_

The Thresher Maw's head exploded with a large pop, and little bits and pieces of it started to rain over us along with the snow in a vast, pink mist. As a result, Shepard's vehicle was subsequently dropped back down to the ground with a soft thunk, with the only indicator it had just been in the jaw of a maw being the Grizzly's front, which was scorched a tad black. As Kaidan, Garrus, Tali, and I stood there dumbfounded, the vehicle revved its engines and casually drove back over to where we were.

And as it slowly rolled to a stop in front of us, the Grizzly's backdoor was violently swung open, where one Gunnery chief Williams was revealed to be standing. "Need a lift?"

I didn't stop to look over my shoulder and see how close I was to the edge as I followed the others into the vehicle. One by one, we hopped in, where we were each greeted by Liara and Wrex.

"Thank the goddess you are all unharmed!"

"Yeah..." Kaidan quietly murmured climbing in. "The same goes for all of you. When that thing had you in its jaws..."

"We thought you were all done for!" Tali finished for him, squeezing into the seat besides Liara.

"So did I," the asari replied.

"The Commander's one crazy SOB," Ashley said grinning. "Saw that thing tunneling up under us on the radar and decided to let it."

"Hm. Interesting strategy," Garrus remarked, seating himself next to Wrex. "Not many people would willingly let a Thresher Maw eat them alive."

I couldn't help but shudder at the mention of the worm.

"Yeah, can't say I was a fan of that plan at the time," Ashley replied.

"But that choice let us close the distance," Wrex pointed out. "And deal the final death blow."

"Just because it worked doesn't mean it wasn't insane," Kaidan countered. "Where the hell did that idea come from?"

"I actually got it from him," Shepard said, jabbing a finger over her shoulder back at Wrex.

"Oh," Wrex replied. "I didn't think you were listening to that story."

"And what story is that?" Kaidan asked still irked.

"Back when he was on Tuchanka, Wrex had to kill a Thresher Maw on foot," she clarified, turning around to face us.

"On foot? Leave it to the Krogan to make killing a Thresher Maw even more difficult," Garrus chimed in.

"They don't expect you to kill it. I just happened to."

"The Thresher Maw almost got him. It actually had him in its jaws before he threw a small makeshift frag down its gullet," Shepard finished looking at us.

Ashley whistled. "That would definitely do something."

"Keelah," Tali muttered.

"It was nothing really," Wrex said dusting off his chestplate.

"So what? Your plan was to get eaten, and on the off chance that its acid didn't immediately melt your vehicle, fire your mass accelerator at it point-blank?" Kaidan scoffed.

"That was the plan, yeah," Shepard replied. "And it worked didn't it?"

"But-"

"But nothing," Shepard said, returning her eyes to the road. "It's dead, and now we can move on." And she was right, as that giant carcass in front of us wasn't the only thing blocking our way to Peak 15. If memory served, Shepard mentioned shortly before the attack that there were still Geth ahead.

As she lurched the vehicle forward, Kaidan decided to just refrain from continuing their argument, which seemed to be the best choice when stuck in an argument with Shepard. Instead, Alenko decided to just grab onto one of the low-hanging straps beside his head. I mimicked the biotic, for I was also left standing without seat, due to the vehicle being currently past max capacity. The only seat available that was remotely big enough for either of us was Wrex's lap, but I don't think either of us were really keen on that option.

As Shepard drove the vehicle around the headless Thresher and began to zoom toward the Geth blockade ahead though, she piped back up. "So...is it just me, or does something seem a little off to you guys?"

"Off?" Liara asked.

"Like what?" Tali replied curious.

"I don't know," Shepard replied, eyes still fixated on the road ahead. "It's just...a feeling."

"What exactly do you mean Shepard?"

"Hm...I just...can't seem to put my fingers on it."

...

┌∩┐(ಠ_ಠ)_\nn/

* * *

"Let's go!" Shepard shouted, leaping back to her feet. The Krogan that had just thrown her against the ground didn't have time to finish the job as Shepard hit him with a healthy dose of vitamin Eezo. The two-ton lizard immediately flew away from the ground like a balloon filled with helium, and only after it started to cry out in a panic was when she decided to fling it across the room. That took a little more effort on her part, but the Commander found the result worthwhile. The Krogan slammed into a tall pile of stacked metal crates, causing several stacked precariously high to topple on top of him not soon after.

"Might wanna move Shepard! They got you flanked!"

She didn't just cudgel her way past a few dozen Geth armatures and missile turrets to be done in by a single Geth leaper. Shepard conjured a biotic barrier around herself with the Turian's remark, while whipping around to face her supposed assailants. "Ah," she let slip. Her mistake. It was two Geth leapers, not one. Shots from both instantly brought down her defense.

But that gave her time to return fire, with her modded rounds making short work of the one on the ceiling. Sensing its impending demise, the other, in obvious fashion, leaped back out of view. She cursed with its escape, but now that her hands were free, Shepard was able to book it across the garage to where Ashley was currently laying. Sliding down beside her, the Commander found to her amusement that the marine was still trying to give her a report.

"Commander! Garrus is providing cover fire from the columns on our nine with T'Soni and Tali but-"

"Shut up," Shepard cut her off, taking a stim from her belt and injecting Ashley's thigh with it.

"Ah," the baby winced.

"Think you can get back on your feet?" Shepard yelled over the gunfire.

"Now that I'm all gelled up!" the marine replied with one eye shut.

Taking a second look at her, Shepard changed her mind "Why don't you take five!"

The Commander rolled out of cover before the marine could protest and ran back to the other side of the garage, kinetic barrier reflecting any stray shots that came her way.

"Shepard, just found the radio jammer!" Kaidan suddenly exclaimed over her earpiece.

"Take it down!"

"How do you think we're talking right now!" he radioed back.

She rolled her eyes in response, as too much action was going on for him to actually expect her to stop and think things over. As if on cue, she overheard a synthetic growl come from straight ahead. Shepard leapt over the crate she was hiding behind and subsequently blasted the Geth with a powerful display of biotics. She let it somersault through the air several times before actually whipping out her shotgun to finish the job. Immediately after, a synthetic, yet non-threatening, voice came over Peak 15's garage.

"User alert. All Peak 15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage. Biohazard materials present throughout facility. Virtual Intelligence user interface offline."

As the VI finished its announcement, one last gunshot went off, which told her that the battle was now over. She still double checked her omni-tool nonetheless in case there were more. Satisfied with its report of zero hostiles, she began walking up the ramp, leading to the upper floor that overlooked the rest of the garage, where Kaidan and Wrex already were.

"Sounds like we'll need to get the generators back online," Kaidan said.

"I imagine they'll be guarded," she replied.

"Good. That'll keep things interesting," Wrex grumbled.

With that, Shepard turned back around to the floor below them. Ashley was walking with a gait up the ramp, followed by Garrus, Tali, and Liara. Before she could ask where the lamest member of the team was, he suddenly appeared to her right, heaving himself up over the railing to reach where the upper level was instead.

_Idiot._

As they all approached the Commander's position however, Shepard took particular notice of Ashley, noting that her injury was worse than she had thought.

"Williams."

The marine immediately stiffened upon hearing her name. "Yes sir?"

"We might have missed some of the Geth hiding in the Valley. I want you to stay here in the garage and guard the Grizzly in case any more attempt to attack it once we're inside the facility."

"Commander, with all due respect, that's bullshit. You don't need to worry about this," she said motioning to her leg. "I'm fit for duty."

Shepard on the other hand, disagreed. With her shields down, that Geth Prime had done a number on the marine's leg. She was lucky it had only been grazed, and not taken clear off. "Williams, that vehicle is our only way back down, which is why it's of the utmost importance that you stay here to watch it. That's why I'm also assigning Shield to stay behind here with you." In addition to wounded soldiers, she didn't need maimed amateurs on a high-stakes mission like this either. She had no idea what was behind the door next to them, and if what the VI said was anything to go by, she didn't exactly care to come down with a bio-weapon due to any rookie mistakes thanks to Shield. The man barely held his own in a regular fight, and now that the Maw had apparently taken his fingers...

She gave a glance at Shield, who was staying uncharacteristically silent, simply looking at the ceiling aloof. Ashley on the other hand was much more vocal.

"Commander, I'm fine. You don't need to sideline me!" she insisted.

Behind her, Kaidan whispered, "We will need all the firepower we can get Commander."

She didn't pay Kaidan as much mind as she normally would have however, as something else was currently catching her attention. Shield was now leaning against the railing, wholly uninterested in their back and forth. With how often Shield liked to run his mouth however, she now found his silence more concerning then Williams' wound. After begging so hard to accompany them on the mission, he apparently had no qualms with being left outside the facility. Almost like he wanted to stay behind.

"What about you Shield?" she found herself asking, not that he looked back in response.

"...what about me?"

"You're awfully quiet over there. You tellin' me you don't have an opinion on your assignment?"

"You're Commander Shepard," he replied apathetically. "You give the orders, we follow."

In the few weeks she had endured his company, and all the atrocious attempts at lying and bullshit that had come with it, she found this was one of his most bold-faced lies yet. While Shepard loathed to admit she was still having trouble with sorting out how much of what Shield had told her had been true, there was one thing about the man she knew for sure. The man lacked sincerity.

And there she had it. Williams was adamant about going with them, wanting to prove to them as well as to herself that she belonged on the team. Shepard could clearly see the stubbornness that had led the woman to join a career path she was blacklisted in from the get go. And for Shield, whose intentions were not always easily discerned, was clearly set on staying out of Binary Helix's facility. For whatever reason Shepard didn't know, but common sense dictated that it would be detrimental to the mission to leave him out here for it.

"Commander-"

"Enough," she commanded, and the marine fell silent. "You know your own limits. So fine. You're both covering our rear."

"Thank you sir!" Ashley answered emphatically.

Then after breaking eye contact with the marine, she told the rest, "Alright everyone, move out! If you don't remember, Binary Helix is working with Saren, and it's about high time we found out what Saren was up to here." And at her command, her team formed up, beginning their descent into Binary Helix's facility. As soon as they entered the first hallway however, Shepard immediately tensed. The sight of defense drones several inches away from your face tends to do that. Though Shepard quickly dropped her (relative) guard once the realization hit that they were pointed in the opposite direction. Tali, clearly baffled, asked aloud as to why.

"They want to keep their people in, as much as they want to keep others out," Wrex answered.

"That's barbaric. This is a facility of critical thinkers and problem solvers," Liara pointed out. "Why would they be treated as criminals?"

"Those types of people aren't mutually exclusive," Vakarian pointed out as they approached the other side. Doctor Saleon was obviously the first that came to mind for him. As she looked to her right, Shepard found a dead-end, but to her left, to her left she found an elevator. As she walked in its direction, Shield spoke up next.

"And you'd be surprised Doc," he said somewhere from behind. "A lot of these guys ARE criminals. The research done here isn't exactly the type done for the benefit of mankind...or any kind I guess."

At that comment, Shepard stopped before entering the elevator, and wheeled around. "You have intel as to what goes on in here?" she asked irate.

He avoided her gaze and half-heartedly responded, "I guess. All I can say for sure is that...those guns probably aren't there just to keep the _researchers_ in."

She scowled. He knew more than he was letting on, but how much, she couldn't say. Then the elevator let out a ding behind her. She turned back around to it, and entered. At this point, it didn't really matter what they were going to find. All she could worry about now is what she would do when they finally found it.

The elevator ride down passed quicker than expected, which was most likely due to the excitement resulting from all their HUDs and omni-tools alerting them to the presence of nearby Geth. Before the elevator doors had even opened, they had been able to come up with an outlined battle plan. They had more than enough time to set up biotic barriers in anticipation of the Geth's assault, and the resulting counter strike decimated the few Geth in the narrow corridor facing them. And as the team spilled out into the snow covered courtyard before them, the Geth quickly found themselves overwhelmed.

Tech attacks breaking down their systems, biotics immediately following them up, throwing their limp bodies all across the room. The assault was coordinated, and the assault was ruthless, and the synthetics never stood a chance. As Shepard made sure the last Geth before her was most definitely dead a few minutes later however, the scraping sound of metal suddenly assaulted her ears. She immediately looked up, expecting a Geth leaper to be attached to the vents above. But just as her HUD indicated, nothing was there.

"What was that?!" Garrus let out, spooked by the sound.

"More Geth?" Tali guessed a little loudly.

"Probably debris. Don't have a panic attack, I'll protect you," Wrex remarked.

Shepard looked all around them, desperately, but couldn't find the source. Adjacent to the courtyard they were in was a large staircase, leading to the next floor up, whose corridors and rooms were all on display thanks to the walls of glass. But that just made her more paranoid as similar sounds to the first followed not long after. And this paranoia was only worsened by the fact that Shield seemed disproportionally spooked by said noises as well.

"Is it...is it coming from the vents?" Ashley thought out loud.

Then the door atop the staircase opened. Shepard thanked whatever God there was that everyone had enough trigger discipline not to shoot, as instead of Geth, they found a plump, balding Human standing in the middle of it.

"Thank the Maker they finally sent someone!" he exclaimed in a high pitch voice, on the verge of tears.

Everyone lowered their weapons as he opened his mouth, now that they knew who the culprit was. Except for Shield, who was still pointing his gun at him.

"I've been holed up in that office for days!" he wailed. "Thank you! Thank you, Thank you, Thank-"

As if Shield could read her mind, he immediately dropped his gun before she could lambaste him. But following his gaze back to the Binary Helix employee, she could now see why. Throughout her lifetime, Shepard had seen too many horrors to count. Things that lead to people being unable to sleep at night. Things that lead trained soldiers to break down at the sight of. And at this point in her career, not much really phased her anymore. But this moment certainly made her list of top ten.

As the creatures began to flood down from the ceiling, the walls, and even up out of the floor of the facility, only Wrex was able to utter the words:

"RACHNI!"

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Urdnot Wrex's Childhood**

Born in 1357 CE to Urdnot Broodmother Dahkanna, Urdnot Wrex was measured the eighth smallest in his brood of ten. While not the sole reason, this was a large component of why Urdnot Wrex came to be a loner in his youth. As prized as Krogan children were after the Genophage, the stronger were much more so than than the weak. And unlike the other Urdnot children in the Kelphic Valley, Wrex saw little of his father, who was a notorious Warlord by the name of Jarrod. As Warlord Jarrod was often absent in his attempts to rally the rest of the splintered Urdnot clan, Wrex was truly a lone soul, with little to no attention placed on his person. So it came to pass, in place of his biological father, Wrex was reportedly raised by a Shaman formerly known as Urdnot Droyas. This particular shaman was shunned by a vast majority of the Urdnot Clan in the Kelphic Valley, largely due to his radical beliefs on the way Krogan culture needed to adapt to coincide with the rest of galactic society. For no reason other than that they were both alone, the two Krogan kept each other company, and was where Urdnot Wrex is suspected to have gained his reformist values. The company Wrex kept however further marginalized him from others his age, as other Krogan youths mocked him for spending time with such an ignorant fool. This of course, caused Wrex to return this sentiment of disdain in earnest.

So when the time came for Wrex's Rite of Passage, it was no surprise that the Krogan had no Krantt (battle troop) of his own. The elders fully expected the young Krogan to die alone in the wastes. But it was during his Rites that Wrex found what made him truly unique. Not his biotic potential, as that would develop later, but rather, his intellect. Urdnot Wrex survived the three trials of the Keystone alone, due to a combination of brawn and brains, and was the last recorded Krogan to kill a Thresher Maw on foot in Krogan history, and more notably, the largest recorded to be killed single-handedly in Galactic History since the 19th Century of Council Era. This success led to his meteoric rise and eventual appointment as Chief of Kelphic Valley's Clan Urdnot. Revered over the countryside for his legendary feat of strength and later for his prowess as one of their coveted Battlemasters, Urdnot Wrex found himself in a very unique situation, and used this new position of power to finally began preaching the beliefs his teacher had tried to spread before.

Such respect did the Krogan have for strength, that it was only now that the words came from a warrior did they truly begin to listen. And not just the members of his clan, but those clans around them as well. Several Clans of Urdnot and Raik began to listen to, and actually take his teachings to heart. As this occurred, Urdnot Jarrod was leading the few Clans of Urdnot he rallied as brigands across Krogan Space. When he heard one of his sons had become Chieftain, the Krogan was enthralled. Imagine to his fury when he returned home however, to find that this very son was destroying what Jarrod considered the pillars of Krogan Tradition. After several failed attempts to make his son abandon his radical beliefs, Warlord Jarrod offered Chieftain Wrex to meet at a Crush (grounds considered sacred by the Krogan) to finally resolve their dispute. It was there that Warlord Jarrod violated one of the Krogan's most sacred traditions, ordering his followers to ambush Wrex and his most devout followers once his son refused to concede for the last time. Urdnot Wrex was able to escape with his life, but not before sinking a dagger deep in his father's chest, piercing every one of his father's redundant hearts. It was then in 1851 CE that Urdnot Wrex gave up on the Krogan clans and took to the stars as a mercenary, like so many Krogan before him. This marks when the Krogan was deemed to have taken to the fatalistic tendencies of most other Krogan, a large sense of apathy to the fate of his species, and generally pessimistic view.

**I can clearly see that no one has looked at this entry since 1897 CE. Someone needs to bring this up to the Broker's standard of quality, as per the template given in Entry 020-DW-2105. I don't care how long Krogan live, five hundred years is not considered by any race to constitute one's 'childhood'. And combine this entry with whatever else we have on this Krogan. Individuals should have entries listed under their sole file in the network, not thirty entries left unsorted throughout it! Do you network rats even work in that small window you're not ingesting mindfish or browned out? What does the Broker even pay you all for?! I want this fixed by tomorrow. It's like looking for a Nathak in a Noverian snowstorm for a file on this Krogan! Do your damn jobs!**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Yooooo, before you guys read the chapter above, here's a backstory to explain where I got that awesome sound effect I typed up for it. So imagine, there I was on Wednesday morning, last one in my room to move out. I was clearing out of housing for the summer, and had been going up and down the stairs like clockwork to move out in time. On like the jillionth trip however, I happen to come across this kid just playing with his toy car alone in the middle of my floor. No one else in the hallway but us, where he was just making ppppbbtthhh sounds with his bright red firetruck. Poor parenting to say the least. Then, out of nowhere, with no warning, this kid just stops, and stares at me with his beady little eyes. Then, like watching a train wreck in slo-motion, he slowly tosses the thing up in the air and makes the most dramatic explosion I've ever heard in my life. This kid reached whole new levels of ingenuity in creating this sound, not to mention that I'm pretty sure he broke the sound barrier. Then as mysteriously as he had appeared, he picked up his truck and waddled off away down the stairwell. Suffice to say, that kid obviously knew what was up, and so, to the best of my ability, I made a rough attempt at recreating what the event might have sounded like. I wish you could have been there, because it was a sound every being should hear at least once in a lifetime.**

**JK, haha, no one ever reads the AN before the chapter. Not in this format they don't.**

**Thought I was going to say I just made up that whole story for a second after that JK though didn't ya? But what kind of weirdo would do that hahaha...**

**Also, in addition to the chapter, Fun Fact Friday! (so you guys at least take away something worth your time if you don't like the AN...or chapter...or story in general. At this point though, why are you still even reading? ...wait, scratch that, it does get better from here, I assure you! Don't leave! I have candy! :'[ ) Oh! Right, F****un fact~ Platypuses have prehensile tails, and can carry things with them. Whether this talent translates to beavers though, I have no idea. And one should disregard that this came out on a Saturday. Unless you're actually reading this on a Friday, then, in which case, like, you're welcome man.**

**Anyways, in regards to the actual story, MAN SHIELD, why you gotta be so wangsty? Always pontificating and pointing fingers at shit. I mean on one hand, thinking things over can be a good exercise. On the other, too much introspection is boriiiing. TBH, up until now, Shield's never really had to lift a finger his entire life. So now's the time for the guy to really play his hand! Show everyone what he's got! Cross his fingers as he throws caution to the wind! Of course, that's also what Shepard's here for. To give him a hand with plans of action and the finger when he needs motivation. I did just hear secondhand though that, depending on what happens next chapter, major character development and shifts in the story's paradigm may or may not occur...like the possibility that every other chapter has, I suppose. So nevermind.**

**Hehe...puns.**

**Also, I know that short cutaway to Joker was probably unnecessary, but I gotta say, it's something that's always intrigued me. While Shepard and fam are traipsing down below on strange planets, shooting up every thing that looks at them funny...what does the rest of the Normandy do? The Normandy crew that is. Are they just chillin'? Do they still have work when the Normandy is just docked? Do they just play poker for the hours and hours Shepard's down on the ground?! Idk. That'd be a pretty cool perspective to see though. See Shepard's adventures through the eyes of a red shirt, a simple Private like Fredericks or an Ensign like Draven. Or even a Normandy veteran often looked over like Chakwas or Adams. That'd be a pretty interesting read I'd think. Also, Wrex. You guys know that trailer where Grunt kills a Thresher Maw? Causes it to explode point-blank with a shotgun to its face? I was always kind of irked that it went down nothing like that in the game. So here's my rendition of it (which I think is just a tad more plausible for such a ghastly kill like that). Wrex using a frag to kill one that is. But how would you guys think he'd do it?**

**Oh, and one more thing. Who got those ASOIAF references in the chapter? The _Winds of Winter_? a _Stark_ reality? Hahaaaaa, lame I know :(**

**On to reviews then I guess:**

**Desu~ton -** First, allow me to start off with the fact that_ I_ really enjoyed _your_ review! Although to be fair, I enjoy all reviews. Good or bad, short or long, keep 'em coming you chintzy bastards. Constructive criticism benefits everyone! They help the author grow as a writer, you get to express your opinions on what you've seen, and your review lets others know to veer away from the awful story they were just about to read. And for the actual reply...all extremely astute observations my friend. Shield is dense, yes, chugging along through whatever event that occurs without even taking a grain of wisdom from it (idiot). And Shepard really does hates his guts, oh boy does she. But bowing out? That's not his style! Shield's a man of conviction, a man of principle. He wouldn't just abandon the Normandy crew in the middle of their plight! That'd be the selfish thing to do!...OR would it?! I don't know. Shield's gonna do what Shield's gonna do though, regardless of the consequences :\ But thank you again for taking time to write bro, I really do appreciate it! You don't know how much joy I have to see what questions or views you have on the latest to come out!

**LGS **\- And true. True. Or it would be, if Shield actually can beat death :l

**Toothless** \- As for that, personally, I've never had acid poured on my hand before, so I wouldn't know. But I have accidentally run my hand under hot water, which I imagine is probably comparable. If anyone reading this story is a clutz or had one for a lab partner however, think we could get a second opinion on this?

**Ayn-Rand** \- But hold up for a second...Jeff? Jeff, Jeff, Jeff...oh! Jeff! I love that guy! Stick around playa, he'll be back!

**And last but not least **\- TROOOLLL! TROLLLLL IN THE DUNGEONNNNN

**Thanks for the reviews though gang! **

**In the Next Chapter: Motherfocka's never loved us. Remember?!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	30. The Pathetic Performance on Peak 15

"I just...can't quite seem to put _my fingers _on it."

Instead of any urge to throttle Shepard with my remaining hand and a half for that remark however, I found myself rather oddly calm. In what I could only describe as an unusual state of tranquility and serenity. As I stared down at my maimed hand, I almost found it weird, being at such peace, not having a single significant thought cross my mind. And even more bizarre, I realized I actually welcomed it. In all sense, I should probably be a little on edge after what just happened, to prevent another such mistake again, but it was nice to just pretend nothing was wrong.

And as I closed my eyes, I discovered that not only could I ignore Shepard, but the wild jockeying of the Grizzly as well, as it just barreled its way through snow mound after snow mound like the Coors Light train. And what a blessing that was. Being able to ignore them that is. Nothing around but me, myself, and I. And I thoroughly enjoyed the blissful time I had in this state of Nirvana, all one minute of it, as it was ruined not a moment later by Ashley, who had just noticed half the fingers on my left hand were gone.

"Shield, what the hell happened to your hand?!" she blurted upon seeing it.

"Thresher maw," I said, finding myself staring at it once again.

"Oh my goddess," Liara said covering her mouth. "Shield...are you...do you need any medi-gel?" I could hear the Asari start to unclasp a casing off her belt.

"I'm fine," I calmly replied.

"Are you sure?" Kaidan now asked, showing a little more sympathy for me than before. Although, I guess I didn't exactly blame him for his earlier frustration with me. We _were _in mortal peril at the time. And he _was_ just trying to get us both out the vehicle. A vehicle in danger of getting crushed by said Maw. "You're not feeling any pain? At all? Light-headed? Nausea?"

"I'm fine," I reiterated, a little more brusquely. And technically, it was true. The burning sensation had stopped shortly after Kaidan had thrown me out into the snow. And apparently, there must be some unknown agent in Thresher acid that can cauterize wounds, as my stubs weren't currently gushing as much blood as you'd thought they'd might.

"You should still get some medi-gel on that regardless," he replied.

"If it's not life-threatening, it doesn't need gel," Shepard said from the front.

"Still-"

"I'm FINE."

Kaidan frowned as I repeated myself for the umpteenth time.

"All the same, I think you're sitting the next one out," Ashley assured me.

"What else is new," Wrex replied for me.

And despite his comment, I was glad that Wrex actually had. I wasn't really in the mood to talk at the moment. All I really wanted to do at the moment, was hold on to this small peace of mind I had before I was brought back to reality.

_...haha...reality._

But as their talking went on, I already knew it had left me. The tranquility was instantly replaced by melancholy. Frustration. Exhaustion. But mostly exhaustion, _I_ found, as everything that had just happened prior came rushing back to mind.

_...There was a Thresher Maw attack literally not minutes ago. How am I not dead? And speaking of dead, all those mercs back at Port Hanshan. No...all those guards. And Shepard got mad at me for trying to stop that. For trying to calm everyone down...great job I did there._

And as those series of thoughts rolled around in my head, they soon began to consume every subsequent thought. I mean, while playing the game, you don't even question going into every prescripted battle guns blazing. Every battle is there precisely for that. That riveting gameplay. No other reason. Even though, if we're being honest here, your Shepard could avoid half of the battles in the game with a simple comment or remark. Talk those random guards out of trying to measure up to a trained space marine, or those mercs from challenging a Spectre.

_The guys we killed weren't Geth attacking colonists. Or Batarian terrorists attempting to kill a planet. Hell, they weren't even Blue Suns performing piracy or mercenary work. Those men and women were just hired guards, that thought they were doing their job. And we killed them. Naw, we murdered them. Literally shot them all dead...just like they were back in the game._

_...but crying about that won't fix it._

And everyone badgering me about my hand wasn't going to fix it either. I appreciated all the sympathy I was currently getting, but honestly, now that I thought about it, I wished I had just been left on the ship. None of this shit would be happening otherwise. To me anyways, as Geth suddenly firing upon our vehicle interrupted those still talking around me.

Now, I have to say...the Thresher was huge. The worm was the size of a skyscraper and shot acid out of its mouth. It was something you'd pit against Godzilla, but Shepard was still able to take it down in our rinky-dink land rover. Compared to what she just faced and pulverized, the robots never really stood a chance. She ran down the Geth troopers with the vehicle's chassis, shot up the slightly larger ones with our turret, and blasted the largest platforms away with the main gun.

I think I might have spaced during the ride at some point, because to me, the whole thing seemed to end as soon as it had started. One second, explosions and loud thunks could be heard happening everywhere around us, but the next thing I knew, we were coming to a stop. And as soon as Shepard put the vehicle in park, she wasted no time in barking for us to get out. With the garage doors to the Peak being sealed (surprise surprise), Shepard stated the obvious fact that we were going to have to continue into the facility on foot. And I couldn't help but wonder if it was too late to return to the ship as she did.

Didn't have much time to prepare before Wrex was already barreling into the garage head-first, wrenching open the door and immediately throwing it at the Krogan waiting on the other side. Kaidan followed him in next, opening a biotic salvo on the next nearest Geth. And in this fashion, Team Normandy, one by one, began to file into Peak 15's facility, each firing a tech attack or biotic field to allow the next behind them to enter. I followed Tali in last, who overloaded the shields of a Geth sniper across the garage. I barely had time to register where the attack had landed before my attention was immediately drawn to Ashley, who was diving out of the way of a charging Geth Prime. She had apparently done enough damage to take its shields down however, as it was subsequently downed by a head-shot from Garrus.

As I ran further into the garage though, and ducked behind the crate nearest to me, something seemed...strange. The yelling. The raucous gunshots. The occasional flashes of blue here and there. It was all the norm by now. The usual routine of every fire fight I had been in since I became a part of this whole hot mess. But as I sat there on the cold metal floor, back against the crate, squinting my eyes...I found that it also wasn't. The battle wasn't like usual that is. Something seemed off, hiding there in the garage while everything else raged around me. As Garrus shouted across the room for Shepard to watch her six though, I was finally able to put my finger on it.

...I found that I just didn't care. I kind of felt a little guilty about it, sure, sitting here while everyone else put their lives on the line, but honestly, the whole thing just seemed pretty unnecessary. Everything. The fighting. The confrontations. And every little thing in-between.

_I've been putting all my efforts into helping Shepard hunt Saren, and what have I gotten for it? Yelled at. Scrutinized. Loss of a couple fingers. _

And that was when I realized that my state of bliss wasn't due to me trying to avoid responsibility. It was me realizing that I actually just didn't give a fuck. None. And I didn't have to. This line of thinking was only further justified as the gunfire died down and Mira's voice came on over the garage. They didn't need my help for this fight. Or any fight for that matter now that I thought about it. I didn't need to be here for any of this.

This was Commander Shepard...a video game character. But a kick-ass one. One that got the job done no matter what choices she made or who was there with her in the end. I REALLY didn't need to be here at all. And thinking about even more, shouldn't. I slowly got up out of cover as the VI finished her announcement.

Instead of following the rest of the squad going up to the next garage level however, I simply stood where I was. A part of me really just wanted to walk back outside to the Grizzly, and wait till everything was said and done. You could kill Benezia with _three_ squad mates in the game. Eight would be overkill. And I realized that Threshers weren't the only things that could also shoot acid here. I didn't exactly want to lose the rest of my fingers either.

But as Liara turned her head in my direction, walking up a ramp to the next floor with the others, I felt my feet start taking steps toward them. I forgot to account that there were only _two_ squad mates that went down with Shepard on a mission. I had to realize that now there were six, not including me. If it wasn't in the game, it was an unknown. And that meant I couldn't possibly guess what would happen next. Although I'd probably still have a strong clue. I sighed as I continued to follow the others, unable to just bail on the mission altogether.

_I came this far...might as well see how much further I can get._

As I realized the rest were a good ways ahead of me though, I decided to just take a short cut up. With my right hand and the five fingers I _did _have intact, I grabbed onto a piece of railing level with my head and hefted myself up onto the floor above.

Which happened to be a floor where Shepard and Ashley were now going at it. Ashley had a noticeable limp, which I figured was most likely due to her trying to bum rush that Prime. No idea what she was thinking there, as the girl wasn't Krogan. And Wall-E must have gotten her good too with how she was walking. But Ashley was adamant on continuing onward into the facility in spite of it. The girl was as stubborn as a mule. The gimp wouldn't take no for an answer. Even when Shepard tried to placate her and told her she'd have me for company-

_Lucky her._

-she was still unwilling to cooperate. Although I damn sure wish she would, as that was exactly the out I was looking for. Stay in the car until the whole thing blew over. I wouldn't have to deal with any more of this bull, and hell, I'd be doing what Shepard actually _wanted_ me to do for once. It was a win-win scenario. Not like I would even be of any help if I _were_ to go. I shot my Predator with two hands, not one. I couldn't even give cover fire with my-

"What about you Shield?"

I froze where I was panicked, in good reason too, as I realized Shepard had just addressed _me_. For what, I had no clue. I hadn't been listening.

"What about me?" I stalled, still leaning over the railing, staring at the opposite side of the garage, frozen in position.

"You're awfully quiet over there."

_Yeah...I guess I am._

"You tellin' me you don't have an opinion on your assignment?"

_Assignment? ...oh. She's talking about staying with Ashley at the Mako. Grizzly. Whatever._

But since when did she ask for _my _opinion? On one of _her_ decisions? Now that I knew what she wanted though, I decided to slowly turn around, where I found the rest of the squad looking in my direction. And Shepard too of course, who was staring at me with a particularly dubious look.

_You don't have an opinion?_

An opinion. The woman was being facetious I realized. She didn't actually want my input. That's what my sage advice and omniscient insights to her were. Just simple opinions. Annoying little sidebars or quips. So I decided to return her the favor.

"You're Commander Shepard," I said plainly. "You give the orders...we _follow_." A reply that made it seem like I didn't care but still maintained that I _would_ be in favor of her plan. And I didn't fail to add some sarcasm to the last bit as well, although it didn't seem like anyone in the group had caught it. But still, check, check, and check. Message delivered.

Ashley seemed to disagree though, and tried to make her case one last time before Shepard cut her off. And then, totally out of the blue, snap decision, Shepard just decided to drop the entire thing. I was baffled as she told us to "cover their rear." Like-

_...what the fuck? How the hell did THAT convince her to keep us with the group? I don't understand. What could I have possibly conveyed in that sentence to warrant that change in...teh fuck?_

Before I knew it though, my legs were already moving of their own accord, following the rest of the squad deeper down into the bowels of Noveria. All I could do was let out a groan of defiance as my fate was decided. I was going to be dragged along for the events of Peak 15. Of course I wouldn't get off that easy. And as soon as we entered the first hallway of the Peak, I was able to start crossing off my checklist of events.

Backward facing turrets, check. Someone saying that 'keeping those in as well as out' phrase, check. Liara voicing her confusion over why they would even do such a thing..no check. I didn't remember that. And everyone brings Liara on this mission. In response, Garrus additionally gave an unfamiliar opine that the people below us probably weren't exactly saints.

And Garrus was technically correct. "A lot of these guys _are_ criminals," I found myself clarifying for Liara. "The research here isn't exactly the type done to benefit mankind." Then realizing my mistake, I quickly added "Or any kind I guess." Although that still wasn't the entire truth. There were more insidious things down below than just-

"You have intel as to what goes on here?!"

I barely had time to cover my face before Shepard whipped toward me in a fury. Luckily, she didn't try to assault me this time around. I presumed that she was most likely mad that I didn't tell her about this alleged 'intel' beforehand. And I guess she was probably right to. Might have helped the Commander prepare a little more for the mission. But at this point, I didn't really care. And it wouldn't really make a difference either.

"I guess," I simply shrugged. "All I can say for sure is that...those guns probably aren't just there to keep the researchers in," I finished in a decidedly cryptic manner.

_And because fuck you Shepard, that's why._

And of course, in classic Shepard fashion, she simply shot me a glare before turning back around. Back around to the elevator that had just arrived behind her. Luckily for us, said elevator was quite spacious, and had enough room for everyone to just pile in at once. Once we were all inside however, it soon became apparent that it was going to be a fairly unpleasant ride. I actually welcomed the first few minutes of silence, a welcome change to all that racket just made in the garage. But after the next few, it quickly became uncomfortably awkward. Needless shifting around, eyes darting away from each other as soon as they made contact, small isolated amounts of coughing. That sort of thing.

If there was one thing the Normandy team all had in common, I would guess that it would be their hatred of inaction. So I don't think it was really much of a surprise when everyone in the elevator suddenly glowed with glee as red dots started pinging in their visors. Talks of strategy and biotic barriers were immediately delved into. Krogan meat shields and wedge formations. Crippling tech attacks and designated regions for singularity placements. I didn't particularly give a shit however as none of it concerned me. Ashley was at least given the point and shoot at anything that would try to kill us job. As I thought, I was just told 'try not to die.' Of course, I followed the advice to the letter, I'm not an idiot, and the plan went as well as...planned. The Geth in the courtyard were cleared out in record timing, and all was well. Until the sounds of creaking metal came down from above. Those immediately sent a warranted chill down my spine.

I never saw the ones Cerberus had captured on Binthu, as I had missed that mission, but Liara and Ashley had made the creatures sound fairly horrifying. Five foot tall bugs that could spit acid and had whips extending from their backs that could lash you from several feet away. I clenched the gun in my right hand as tight as I could, and my butthole even tighter. Then I swung around panicked when I heard a creak come from my side.

Frankly, I had had my fill of acid-spitting bugs for the day. I wasn't planning on getting anymore disfiguring scars from them anytime soon. Finding nothing to my side, I immediately backpedaled to the nearest group behind me, assuring myself that I wouldn't separated from the rest when the bugs finally attacked. I mean...how'd these things slip my mind? Once I was back in the pack however, I began darting my eyes every which way. Up at the vents, down at the grates, into the office windows above. Every possible place the aliens could be hiding in the snowy courtyard around us. I didn't fail to realize my erratic movements might have made me look a little paranoid to the others, but honestly, that was a small price to pay to keep the rest of my physical extremities intact.

I wasn't going to let-

The door atop a stairwell across from us let out a hiss, and I'll be real here, I almost shrieked in fear and unloaded my clip into the pudgy man I found standing in it.

"Thank the maker they finally sent someone!" the dude in a form-fitting black medical suit practically bawled.

I didn't shoot. But it was mostly because I was frozen out of fear. The noises above and below and all around had seemed to cease altogether, as the scientist continued to talk. But that was because the creatures were no longer trapped in the ventilation. Which I knew from seeing with my own two eyes. And I knew I was the only one, as in my peripheries, I noticed everyone else seemed to be relaxing, lowering their guard. And despite this knowledge, I still could only stand there with a frog in my throat, helpless, as I watched the leg tips of an alien creep up behind the man.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank-"

His thanks were cut short as his chest cavity suddenly exploded. As blood spattered across my visor, I felt my gun slip out of my hand, and my legs begin to buckle beneath me. Like the scene from Alien, his chest had just been split open by a giant worm; a slender alien worm that now had its head poking right out it. The man's eyes became white, and his body seemed to go limp. I found the entire scene horrifyingly traumatic.

Unlike the xenomorph from Alien however, the larvae began to transform again right before my very eyes. The slender worm soon split into thirds, opening up, blooming like a flower. A pink, throbbing, grotesque, three-petalled flower. Said monstrosity then began to swell, and swell, and then closed back up, before quickly shooting a large green grouping of bile out it.

As I vomited inside my helmet, Wrex was the first to overcome his shock, if he had any at all, and yelled the word "RACHNI!"

I brought my hands to my head as gunfire broke out, gagging with the stench now inside my head-gear. I tried to hold it back at first, but it quickly became too much. I was overwhelmed with disgust, and upchucked again, this time with enough force to completely cover my HUD display. As I started to wretch and writhe with the barf sloshing around in my helmet, my ears still picked out the voices and sounds of those around me.

"By the Goddess!"

"KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!"

I started tugging at my helmet now, desperately trying to throw it off.

"There's more coming down from the ceiling!"

KA-BOOM!

"Agh!" I heard Garrus shout.

"Look out, the green ones self-destruct!"

"What green ones?!"

"The little-WATCH OUT!"

KA-BOOM!

I knew that particular shout was directed at me, only because I was consequently knocked off my feet from the detonation. Thrown onto my back, my head hit the ground hard, and the puke sloshing at chin level now spilled over my face.

"Shepard!"

Several _Sch-womps_ went off around me. I was rolling on the ground now, pulling with all my might to wrench the damn helmet off, free myself from the prison of refuse now swirling around me.

"It's charging!"

"RAAAAH-"

A solid thud resounded from nearby. In response, my legs shot me back up from the ground and began to take me in the opposite direction. However, an ear-shattering screech coming from ahead caused me to stop, pivot, and turn back the way I came. I only stopped running once I collided with something. Hard.

"Keep them away! KEEP THEM AWAY!"

"Move up into the offices! Funnel them into the hallways!"

Laying on the ground, dazed, senses overwhelmed by substances of my own design, literally sickened to the stomach, all by myself, I found it fitting this was how I was to go. An ignoble end for an ignoble adventure. As I prepared for a reset, I could only hope that I was put out of my misery quickly. I don't know if I would be able to bounce back, psychologically anyway, if I was impaled like that scientist was. I imagined that would be a particularly painful way to go. Not something you'd want to experience.

_...Are you really still thinking you have a 1UP like Mario after you die?_

"AND STAY DOWN!" Wrex shouted not too far away, a satisfying crunch following soon after.

_...the sides. You have to unlatch the helmet's sides.._

With bated breath, I slowly brought my right hand up to the base of my helmet, and with a quick flick, unfastened a clamp on the side. I then moved my hand to the other, and repeated the action. Eyes shut, I slowly pulled the helmet off my face.

_Fresh air, oh thank god...oh-_

I rolled over and barfed again, but this time, away from myself, onto the ground. After doing one more spit-take, I tossed away my helmet and finally wiped off my eyes. And the first thing I saw as I raised my head was a dead lobster crumpled up, merely feet away from my face. Rachni, surprisingly, not nearly as gross as one would imagine. They were just giant crustaceans with starfish for mouths. And long-ass antennas. And creepy vestigial limbs. And a weird concave tetrapod torso with needle-like legs. I mean they were kind of creepy. Just a tad disgusting.

I lied. They were hideous.

Upon pulling myself back up, I found the rest of _the squad _retreating up to the offices the scientist had just been standing before. Luckily for me, I was able to quell my stomach this time around, as the image of his gruesome death flooded my mind again. Sadly, I couldn't even appreciate that small victory, as the remaining Rachni soldiers now noticed that they had an easier target then the heavily entrenched group aforementioned. Before I did ANYTHING to address them however, I bent back down to the ground and picked up a handful of snow, which I then dragged over my face, and then through my hair. Reminded me a lot of the day I took that Ice Bucket Challenge. As similarly, it was the closest thing I got to a shower that day.

As soon as the motion was finished, I sprung forward like an elegant gazelle. And like an elegant gazelle, I was almost immediately attacked by a horrifying predator. With a mighty screech, the nearest Rachni lashed out with one of its whips, shanking me right in the side as I sprinted past it.

_Prototype. Spectre. Armor. My. Ass._

The thing punched right through my suit's plating, though not deep enough to actually slow me down. Which is why I guessed the suit was technically called a prototype in the first place. And it was at that precise moment I realized I was technically a guinea pig for Hahne-Kedar. Which I then guessed I should still be thankful for. If I was wearing my original hard suit, the Rachni might have straight gutted me.

What I was really thankful for however, was that my shriek of terror helped draw attention to the fact I was still in the back of the courtyard. Upon noticing this little tidbit, t_he squad_ immediately opened fire on the remaining crustaceans, trying to cut a path for me. With my chance for survival increasing tenfold, my feet pounded hard against the ground, clearing the rest of the distance in seconds, and with a mighty leap, soared over the desk Team Normandy was using for a makeshift barricade.

Not a second after I stuck the landing did I find a medi-gel stim being stuck into my side. My first reaction was to object and bat it away, but I dismissed that line of thinking as soon as the medicine's effects started kicking in. Great stuff that medi-gel. Like liquid cocaine. I felt as high as a kite. Therefore, I didn't mind when Kaidan then dragged me back several yards into an elevator. I did still have enough wits about me though to wave back to the Rachni screeching at us as the elevator doors shut.

* * *

Once their lift began to descend with a groan-

"What the hell are Rachni doing here?!" Shepard angrily asked no-one in particular.

"Damned if I know," Wrex avowed. "But someone on this mountain does."

With that note, Shepard turned her attention on Shield, who was sitting alone in a corner of the elevator. "You knew about them didn't you!"

The man slowly raised his head in response, stopping once the two had locked eyes. Staring into them though, the only thing Shepard could see was red. How red she was with rage. Rage that Shield had withheld critical intel on the experiments occurring below them. Rage that she herself hadn't insisted on interrogating Shield more thoroughly about the facility. Rage that she had just stood by and watched as that man had been killed.

"What?" he replied.

She balled her hand into a fist, on the verge of finishing what that the Rachni had just started. "Don't be coy with me you bastard!" she snarled. "You knew about them and didn't tell us! You decided to keep that fact to yourself and that man was killed because of it!"

"Sorry?" he replied.

_SORRY?_

"Woah Shepard, wait!" Kaidan grabbed her wrist mid-swing, stopping her. As she stared at him in disbelief, he elaborated, "Easy there. Look at him."

Following Kaidan's nod, the Commander looked back down at the man splayed on the floor, who was currently staring at the ceiling now. As the artificial lights illuminated his face, Shepard noticed his eyes were unusually dilated. She scowled in disgust upon realizing his condition.

"You really think that was his first time?" Ashley said covering her mouth, trying to refrain from snickering.

"Are you sure it wasn't omni-gel you gave him?" Garrus asked puzzled.

"Definitely medi-gel," Kaidan replied adamantly.

"I don't believe it," Garrus said. "Shield's been on as many missions as the rest of us. There's no way that was his first time stimming."

"I thought Marauder had seen combat before his time on the Normandy as well?" Liara added.

"Could've fooled me," Wrex muttered under his breath.

"If he has, he might have gotten lucky enough to have never needed it," Ashley thought aloud. "I actually knew a handful of guys in my unit who went several tours without ever having to gel."

The elevator hissed as it continued down the shaft. "I'm sorry guys, but I'm still stuck on the fact that there are Rachni here. Aren't they extinct?" Kaidan asked, bringing attention back to the main issue at hand.

"Obviously not," Wrex retorted.

"Yeah, what is this, the second time we've come across them now?" Garrus asked.

"Yeah, it is." Ashley turned towards Liara next to her. "Are you even sure their Rachni T'Soni? You are an archaeologist, not an entomologist," Williams pointed out.

"I assure you all, these are Rachni! They were one of the subjects I extensively researched for my studies on pre-spaceflight cultures at the University of Serrice!" Liara sputtered defensively. "I've watched archived vids dating before the Krogan Rebellions. These creatures are Rachni, I'm sure of it!"

"I don't care what they are! If I see one more, I'm going back outside!" the Quarian shuddered.

"I think that ship has already sailed Tali," Kaidan replied.

"I actually did some research of my own after Binthu Ashley. The images I saw match what we've came across so far," Shepard said, backing the Asari. "These are definitely Rachni."

"Then where the hell are they all coming from?!"

And that was the million dollar question. Cerberus and Binary Helix. Both were evidently implicit in the return of a species that had once threatened the entire populace of the Milky Way Galaxy. Whether the two organizations were collaborating with one another though, was another matter entirely. It made sense, and Shepard hoped it so, as that made things a little simpler. Less loose ends to tie up. But the fact that the rogue Alliance black ops division might be in league with an interstellar corporation, owned by Saren no less, bode very poorly for them. How big this conspiracy went, how much Saren and the so-called Illusive Man might be plotting together, was something Shepard intended to find out.

As Ashley expressed her frustration with the re-appearance of a long thought extinct race, the elevator dinged, and slid open its doors, indicating that they had reached the interior of the mountain.

"Alright, everyone stay sharp. These things could come from any angle." She motioned for Wrex to stay. "I'll take point this time."

"I got Shield," Ashley said, heaving the pathetic sociopath off the ground.

"Do you really believe that Shield would withheld intel like this if he had it," Kaidan whispered beside her as they exited the elevator.

"Yes," Shepard said staring straight ahead. The man was a pathological liar. That became obvious with his most recent fabrication after Nepheron. Although the Broker was as equally as mistrust-worthy as Shield, at least _they _had given her accurate intel on Saren, pointed them to Tali and her evidence. When it came to Shield, she loathed to admit that she still didn't know where the truths ended and the lies began. Every good lie has some truth sprinkled in, as that's how you strengthen its credibility.

Even though every word that came out of Shield's mouth was automatically subject to scrutiny, Shepard found it harder and harder now to discern the truth in them. With what Shield actually knew: Joker's shakedown run, Kaidan's time at Jump Zero, Saren's presence on Eden Prime; the man obviously still had connections with an intelligence network, or at least contacts within the Alliance. He most definitely did not, like he had claimed, have some sort of wireless implant in his mind. This is what gave credence to the fact that the man was in league with Cerberus, if not outright working for them.

_Ex-Alliance. Knew people that still might have access to top Alliance intel. Hell, he even knew about their experiments on Binthu._

That connection made sense, and why he kept trying to hold on to the pretense that he worked for the Broker. Distance himself from his true employer. Her theory didn't account for all of his lies however. And there was the fact that he had first told them about Cerberus and their supposed espionage back on the Citadel in the first place. Shepard thought she had him pegged the first time they had met. A self-serving liar who knew more than he was letting on. But after Nepheron...she was reluctant to admit his words had got to her. The Visions. Wanting to take down Saren. Collaborating together, as a team. He sounded entirely genuine in every one of _these _statements. But that was the part she was wary of. Which one of them were true. And which ones weren't. Truthfully, Shield's motives to her were still an enigma, and truthfully, Shepard couldn't figure out whether or not he just couldn't help lying, or had an unknown ulterior motive altogether.

Shepard snapped back to the task at hand as she spotted Rachni ahead.

_...but what the hell did Cerberus or Binary Helix even want with the Rachni in the first place?_

She plugged the little green bugs before they had begun to even crawl in her direction. Detonating the explosive canister near them incinerated whatever others were hiding across the hallway as well, which Shepard only knew from hearing their shrill cries upon death. Tali let out a sigh of relief shortly after. "Zorah, I want you to check that power junction," Shepard ordered, pointing to the piece of equipment on their left.

"Of course Commander!" Tali spurted after jerking her head in Shepard's direction.

Shepard didn't fail to notice that the Quarian was obviously terrified of the bugs as well. She had noticed that way back when they raided those Cerberus compounds on Binthu. To ease the alien's nerves, she motioned for Wrex and Garrus to check the next room.

"Ah!" Tali seemed to say perking up, not long after.

"What is it?" Shepard asked, turning back around.

"This is a back-up power system for the station's mainframe Shepard!"

"We can turn on the facility's VI here?"

"If I can successfully interface my omni-tool with the console's wiring...yes!"

"So whack it and turn this thing on already," Wrex said from a ways away.

"Hey..." Ashley spoke up while setting Shield down next to the power junction. "...do you guys smell something?"

Ding-Dong.

"Critical startup error. Virtual intelligence user interface offline. Manual boot required," an unemotional female voice announced unnecessarily loud over the area's speakers. Everyone collectively winced as it did.

"Think that gave away our position?" Kaidan asked beside her.

Skittering could suddenly be heard coming from the grates below them.

"Two-thousand credits says we're about to find out," she replied.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Sirta Foundation's Discovery of Medi-Gel**

Medi-gel is an all-purpose medicinal salve which has become the go-to emergency utility used galaxy-wide by paramedics, EMTs, and military personnel. When any part of an organism's body is wounded, the damaged extracellular matrix helps trigger a cascade of chemical reactions in the blood that ends in fibrin - fibers that join together to start blood clots. The gel helps accelerates this natural blood clotting process and is made with biocompatible components that can be absorbed directly into the body. If medi-gel reaches the blood's platelet cells (or the analogous cellular structure in non-humans) , it helps signal them to change shape and stick together to further help seal the hole in the blood vessel. Additionally, when medi-gel comes into contact with the extracellular matrix in the wounded tissue, it binds to it, forming a 'second skin' over the area. That eliminates the need to even apply pressure to the wound, and results in a layer sealable against liquids - most notably blood - as well as other contaminants and gases.

Supplemented by a combination of amide-local anaesthetics and several clotting agents, medi-gel can heal various wounds and ailments, instantly sealing injuries against infection, and allows for rapid healing by having the gel grip tight to flesh until subjected to a frequency of ultrasound. Unlike the Spectre-only combat drug cocktail colloquially referred to as Unity, Sirta's standard product can be used by any citizen that can afford it, and can be used by every Citadel race (save for Turians, who use a dextro-variant that Quarians can also utilize). Militaries and special response units in Citadel space have access to unique variants of this product, that consist of stimulants and epinephrine (in lieu of the gel's local anesthetics) for increased reaction time in combat, or ones containing cocktails that consist of analgesics, opioids, and salicylates that lower the risks associated with improper use of anesthetics. While one is advised to apply separate doses of medi-gel in sixty second intervals, variants that ignore this warning can be bought for a higher fee. Medi-gel is literally one of the most significant ground-breaking scientific discoveries of this modern age, and one of Humanity's greatest contributions to Galactic society. While technically illegal under genetic modification laws (due to the process the company synthesizes medi-gel), the product's beneficial properties outweigh any ethical ramifications that it might raise.

In light of this ground-breaking cure-all however, one must ask how exactly the Sirta Foundation and its Chief Science Officer Doctor Beordin Ofwer came about its discovery in 2178. Upon extensive testing by several competitors, it was reported that the plant-based haemophilic polymer medi-gel was supposedly derived from could not possibly be responsible for its properties. Upon contact with skin, each derivation and attempt at recreation from the original plant host caused allergic reactions in a variety of individuals (including Humans themselves), falling short of medi-gel's patented ability to be applied to any recipient without accompanying medical complications resulting (solely from the product). It is largely speculated that the company and team that created the salve used another source to derive their product from. But many have since dropped their investigations, deeming that where medi-gel exactly came from is of little concern.

* * *

**Guess what I might have just found. **

**\- Operative Caracosa**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Apparently, there have been those of you out there spreading the rumor that I had died in a tragic clowning accident, never to post again. I wish to debase these rumors. I am, in fact, still very much alive, and very much, still clowning around. But, yeah, I regret that I've been unable to get anything out in what I now realize has almost been a month. Man does time fly.**

**And y'all right, ain't no one got time to read about all yo issues!**

**So skipping why it's been so long, I'll go straight to how Shield's exciting debacle in the courtyard was constructed from several things. Obviously, I did it in an attempt to eschew Tartakovsky's grisly demise in the Hot Labs, as that was such a memorable cutscene in-game. The first time I did that mission, I was like, yo, why is this dude all alone in a place where they said everyone was killed? Why he just sitting there instead of activating the neutron purge himself? WHY is this dude so Russian?! I totally wasn't expecting the Rachni to just murk him like that. Man that was brutal. Apparently, he was evenly supposed to have a missing arm when you met him, which would have conveyed he had already fought the creatures off before. Without that tidbit, I fully expected the perfectly healthy man to betray us or something. Which I guess we still got in the end. The courtyard sequence was also influenced however by Zaeed, and his story about the rookie who threw up in his helmet during splashdown on Taitus. And of course, Shield is too much of a fail-whale to not do just exactly that when face to face with such a graphic scene.**

**Speaking of whales, I almost forget Fun Fact Friday is here! Fun fact, did you know that the Sperm whale can ejaculate around 400 gallons of seminal fluid upon climax? This observed phenomena was the etymon behind the organism's sobriquet, and in fact, the reason why the world's oceans taste so salty.**

**In the Next Chapter: Ah...this shit again.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	31. Yes, You've been Yoked

As I woke, my eyes begin to blink furiously, trying to adjust to the beams of light now assaulting them. And after what seemed like an inordinately long amount of time, I found my vision finally beginning to return. Looking straight up, I found the sky above me a still hue of gray, with the sun shining a bright column of light through its parting clouds, telling me I was probably in for a spring shower.

"Ugh-"

"Hey, I think he's awake."

The voice immediately had me freeze. After blinking a couple more times, I sat straight up and took a look around me. To my surprise, I found it was_ not _about to rain, and in fact, I wasn't even outside. No, I was laying on some kind of cot in the corner of an extremely spacious room, where a large variety of aliens were pacing about nervously.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty," Ashley smirked walking over.

"What...where am I," I groaned, bringing a hand to my head.

"You don't remember?" Tali asked genuinely concerned behind her.

"I... Noveria...I think we entered Port Hanshan...and..."

I sat up straight now, and in the process, caught a glimpse of my left hand. My poor, poor hand.

_Oh...right._

The duo stared at me more than a little concerned now. But they had no need to worry, as everything had already started to come flooding back to me.

_The ERCS. Thresher Maw. Garage Battle. Vomit. Oh god, the vomit...and Rachni Attack. I got stabbed by a Rachni._

"...the last thing I remember is getting hit by a bug," I told them. And then I did a double-take.

"Had me worried there for a second Shield," Ashley replied. "That wound and your hand are one thing, but I don't we could let you tag along in good conscience if you became amnesiac on top of all that-"

"Where's Shepard?" I blurted out in a panic as I realized where we were. Rift Station. The last pit stop before you went to confront Benezia and her army of Geth and Commandos. If Shepard had already gone to face them, then that means I could miss the entire battle and-

"She went down to the labs," Ashley replied, interrupting my line of thought.

_Phew, didn't miss it, they're just doing that side-quest..._

But then I noticed that one Asari Commando in disguise who attacked you in the labs, still meditating on her stack of crates. And if she hadn't left to confront them yet, that means that-

I turned my attention back to Ashley.

"You were out for awhile ," Tali began. "We think you had an adverse reaction to the-

"Which lab?!"

"Is there more than one?" Ashley asked with a dubious look.

"What's Shepard and everyone-else doing right now?!" That outburst caused several people in the room to stare in my direction.

"They're stopping Benezia," Ashley replied, with an angry look on her face.

The Chief was left behind due to her earlier injury, I could clearly see that. And obviously not happy about it. Then I looked at Tali behind her, who probably just volunteered to stay behind. Or, maybe Shepard didn't trust these scientists well enough to leave two of her injured alone with them. And if it was the latter, then that bitch was goddamn prescient.

I shot up out of the bed and hissed, "We have to get out of here. Right now."

"What the hell is your problem?" Ashley said with a scowl.

"These guards are employed by Binary Helix," I pointed to a gun for hire at the opposite end of the room. "Which is owned by Saren and Benezia. Do the math," I said wild-eyed.

Ashley grew deathly silent.

"But...that Captain told us Benezia was down in the labs. If they're working for her-"

"Quiet!" I hissed. Ashley was fingering the pistol on her hips now. "Telling you guys she was in the hot labs was a false lead. To give Benezia more time to do whatever she was doing." I looked in the direction of the Asari commando who had just gotten off her crates. I turned back to my present company. "How long ago did they leave?"

"A few minutes ago," Tali said warily.

"We have to act. Fast." I said.

But what 'act' we were exactly going to do...I had no clue. There was Ventralis and his guards. The Asari Commando and her Geth. All I really knew is that when you came back from the Hot Labs, that this place became a ghost town. Which I always took to mean that they cleaned house while you were gone. So if Shepard had just left, that meant at any moment...

"How do you know this," Ashley said, discretely unfolding her firearm. "If that's true, why haven't they attacked us yet?"

"I don't know. But I'm telling you, they're about to."

And what the hell could we possibly do if they did. There were guards in the room just across from us that led to Benezia, on duty with some defense drones. Continuing my ocular patdown, I counted three more guards in the main room we were in. Six in total, not including however many guards were with Ventralis at the entrance and however many more there were in the rooms adjacent to us. Not to mention the Asari and her Geth. There was no way just the three of us could take them all on.

"Shepard," Ashley discretely radioed into her earpiece. "...Shepard?"

"No signal," Tali whispered, checking her omni-tool.

"How the hell are we going to tell them they're walking into a trap?" Ashley hissed.

"We can't," I said, staring at the Asari now eye-balling us. Momentarily turning to my right, I let out a quick sigh of relief upon seeing that the Salarian laying beside me was still conked out on his bed. Would have been a bit awkward had he been awake to hear all this.

"There must be another way to communicate with them," Tali whispered, continuing to fiddle on her omni-tool.

_Another way to...TO COMMUNICATE!_

"Guys, we're outnumbered," I said spurring to action, stating the obvious. "There's no way we can take them all on."

"Which is why we need to tell Shepard to get back up here," Ashley retorted.

"Or," I replied, "Why we can solve this like civilized people. Try to convince them their employer is bad news bears."

"What?"

"Sorry, convince them to switch sides."

"Are you insane?" Ashley immediately scoffed. "You really think _talking _to them will work? What, you plan on showing them 'the error of their ways' and why they shouldn't do what they've already been _paid_ to do? I seem to remember what happened last time you tried that-"

That caused a sour taste to be left in my mouth. "What other options do we have?" I ended up barking back already up, beginning to walk away from them backwards. We didn't have the time to deliberate. I _didn'_t know if I could do it, and I _didn't_ know what the hell all the guards were waiting for. But we couldn't just sit around and do nothing-

Turning back around to see where I was walking, I surprisingly found my path currently blocked by the Asari that had just been watching us.

"Hey...where ya going?" the blue alien asked innocently. Her voice was sweet, non-imposing, maybe flirtatious even. If I didn't know any better, I would have never guessed she was actually a blood-thirsty Asari commando working for Benezia. Which is why one should be wary of Asari I suppose.

"Uh...out," I said, carefully sidestepping around her.

"It's dangerous out there. And you're injured. You should stay here until your pals get back," she replied, getting in my way again.

"Yeah I...I was just going to talk to Captain Ventralis about that actually," I replied nervously.

"Trust me, you're better off staying in here, where it's safe," the Asari tried to coax me. "Those things still attack us every once in awhile. You could be caught in the crossfire."

I quickly looked aside to a guard who was eyeing me,_ very_ on edge. And returning my attention to the Asari, I racked my brains on what the hell I would do.

Oh god...what the hell DO I do? I have to come up with a way to get to Ventralis. Which she obviously doesn't want me to do. She's in my way...but what could I possibly...and then the solution suddenly popped into my head. Of course. It was so obvious.

"Your friends looked like they've seen combat before though, so I'm sure-"

"I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"...hm?"

"What's your name gurl?"

She raised an eye 'bone' at me. "Uh, Alestia Iallis. Now why don't-"

"You don't have a phD?"

She sighed. "_Doctor_ Alestia Iallis."

"So you are a scientist here."

She looked at me like I was stupid for a second before continuing. "Yes, I'm a member of one of the science teams. But-"

"What do you do?"

Her bubbly personality was now slowly fading away as she answered. "Molecular genetics. I specialize in biotic-enhanced allele-specific hybridization. So I'm-"

"Biotic-enhanced? As in the subjects are given biotic potential before they go through trials? Or as in the alleles already possess an inclination for biotic manipulation through regular inheritance?"

"The latter," she said now crossing her arms. "But I am sure you would find my work quite-"

"You tellin' me there's a specific gene for biotic potential?!" I asked now, genuinely curious. If that was true then why would-

"No. I track inherited variations of the gene sec7 in the DCR samples of ephydroidea diplotessidae we receive from Thessia, as one of sec7's allelomorphs supposedly holds the key to how great the ability for manipulation of dark energy and mass effect fields is expressed in that particular species," she recited quickly.

"Do you think you could say that in galactic?" Ashley said, joining our conversation.

"I track what is called a gene in a genetic sequence that strongly influences how much biotic potential a bug displays," she said very slowly, putting emphasis on every word she spoke.

Ashley was not amused.

"How would you even test that?" I asked next. "Are those bugs actually able to use biotics to lift things or...?"

The Asari rolled her eyes in exasperation. And as she did, I quickly made a motion to Tali, who had just joined us, and to Ashley, who had been present for a large amount of the conversation, as I then slowly began to step away from the group.

Thank god, our brilliant Quarian got the clue, as she immediately began continuing my barrage of questions.

"Why do you perform trials on these insects instead of your own race? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to your species to look at the gene that's responsible for your own biotics?"

"Because there are an exponential amount of factors that play a role in determining our biotic ability," Alestia replied annoyed.

"But why don't you just single out one gene sequence and see what impact that has on one's biotic ability?"

"As I just said, there is no 'one gene' that determines an Asari's skill at manipulating of mass effect fields," Alestia reiterated, with a tone one would use toward a five-year old. "The genotype for Asari biotic potential is polymodal, and is affected by literally hundreds of alleles in our genetic sequences. As opposed to most other races who just receive the ability through a mutation initiated by eezo exposure."

"I'm sorry? Pretend I didn't waste several decades of my life studying this stuff."

"...the Asari genome is more complex than a bug's. You can't just do a conditional knockout for 'one gene' because-"

I was now safely out of the circle and speed-walking out of the room. Choosing the door with a train sign atop it, I soon began to jog through the following hallway. Too late for Alestia to stop me now I thought, as I started to pick up the pace. Classic Misdirection. Thought I could have annoyed the Asari enough to leave me alone, but the distraction my team made fore me worked just as well too.

As I ran down the hallway though, I realized I didn't exactly know what the hell I was doing anymore. If Ventralis and his flunkies were priming their weapons right now, waiting for the go-ahead to clean house, I might actually just be running to my death. Which, oddly enough, didn't cause me to slow down as I entered the next hallway. Though I figured that was probably just because we were all going to die regardless of what happens. Whether we stayed and fought in that room, or served ourselves up on a silver platter to the enemy, our future looked bleak. We had one injured, and the other being the least combat savvy member of the entire team.

And Tali too of course. Yet still...

I only hoped that if I failed, I could at least get back in time to help the two girls escape the subsequent chaos. It was due to my own carelessness that we were currently even in this mess. If they were killed by Binary Helix's men...it would be on me, passing out before we got here. Hah, forget Virmire and Rannoch, thanks to me, it would be on Noveria they'd both meet their ends.

_Although if all else fails and we end up dying...there is always the possibility of reset._

_...if this is a game. Which it's not._

I squinted my eyes as I ran past some piping on my right, and through the last hallway before Ventralis' defense perimeter.

I really needed to stop talking to myself.

As I exited the last hallway between me and Ventralis, the first thing I registered was the immediate sound of gunfire. Not aimed at me of course, but still, it had me frozen in terror enough to stop before the corner. Once I got it through my thick skull that I was safe, I slowly grew enough courage to peek around the hallway's corner. And thankfully, it wasn't Shepard and friends already assaulting the guard's position like I had originally feared. No, it was just the Rachni. Though that wasn't much better, I at least knew the reason now for why we were still alive. I decided to forgive the bugs for their earlier transgressions in light of this. For they had stalled the guards before they had been able to execute their orders.

The Rachni were currently crawling through the grating one by one, attempting to bypass the makeshift barricade with sheer numbers. And it was working. A man on the right was suddenly gutted as a lobster knocked aside the stack of crates he had been hiding behind. The bald man in the center I took to be Ventralis himself was entirely distracted by the others still coming up, and so, didn't see this particular Rachni sneak up behind him either.

"Ventralis!"

He lost his tunnel vision just in time to notice the bug charging at him, and instead of dodging, tackled it head on. The dude's balls must have been the size of a Krogan's to even consider that. But I quickly deemed this a solid decision, as the Rachni couldn't immediately impale him with one of its long ass whips. It did however push him to the ground with its creepy vestigial baby limbs right after, and let out an intimidating screech.

_Adrenaline Rush._

My vision became onset with the familiar sepia overtones as time started to slow. The Rachni was in position to strike Ventralis on the ground, while the man had pulled out his own sidearm and was now aiming it at the creature. I unclipped the pistol on my own hip and pointed it toward the two. But I knew I only had time to pick one target. And even though I knew in the back of my mind that I _could_ just let them finish each other off, no skin off my back-

I pulled the trigger.

Upon shooting it however, I was very surprised to find that I could handle the recoil of my Predator with just one hand. I thought the muzzle climb would resemble the assault rifle's back in that Synthetic Insights office, especially without both hands holding the grip but...evidently not. Just my right was enough.

And once the slug hit it, the lobster's head popped like a balloon, sending splatter everywhere in slow-motion. With the Rachni beginning to collapse upon Ventralis, I moved my sights past it, taking out the two other kamikazes slowly skittering in our direction. The last of Ventralis' men still alive were able to help me take down the last bug, right as my rush petered out. And though the room was cleared, I was still trembling regardless once the final Rachni hit the floor lifeless. Because I simply didn't know if I had made the right choice or not.

"Damn you have a good sense of timing Ramirez," Ventralis loudly announced, pushing the dead creature off him. "Those things almost got us this time. With that signal jammer on, we couldn't-"

"That's not Ramirez," the only other guard in the room left standing quickly pointed out.

Ventralis turned toward me with a look of concern, but immediately calmed upon seeing my face. "Oh, hey, weren't you the one that was out like a light? One of Shepard's crew right?"

"Yeah," I replied, not lowering my gun.

Then he looked down. "Hey...don't worry, you can put your gun away now. Those things shouldn't be coming back anytime soon."

He glanced in the direction of his companion.

"Ventralis," I replied, still not lowering my gun. "Call it off."

He now turned back to me, feigning confusion. "What are you talking about?" His partner thought I didn't notice him discretely trying to bring his gun back out, but I did.

"Don't move," I said moving my gun in his direction.

"Buddy...put the gun down," Ventralis said holding a hand out, while using the other to slowly reach for the gun he had just put on his back.

"You're going to try to kill everyone."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ventralis said with straight face.

"Ramirez should be here any minute," the guard to Ventralis' left said. The Captain stared daggers at him in response.

I quickly put my back against a wall to avoid said Ramirez sneaking up on me. "You got orders to kill them all didn't you?! Why!?"

"You need to calm down," Ventralis repeated himself. "No one's trying to hurt anyone here."

_But...if he's telling the truth, then where did everyone's go when you came back. If they didn't do that then-_

I immediately refocused on the two Binary Helix guards in front of me.

_They still betrayed you in-game regardless. He WAS given orders from Benezia. He sent you to the wrong Lab because of it. He's lying right now._

"Benezia is talking with the Rachni Queen right now. And you just sent Shepard to the wrong lab to find her. Not only did the Matriarch gave you orders to do that, but to kill everyone else while she's gone too."

"Look-"

"Who the hell told you all that?!" his acquaintance broke out next to him. "Was it Ramirez? That bastard's been saying he's had second thoughts about this entire thing since she's left-"

"Dammit Allen," Ventralis cursed, dropping the charade. Then he turned his attention back to me and narrowed his eyes.

"Don't do it," I quickly shouted. "I have phasic rounds! They bypass shields, and I'd kill you before you could even draw your gun!" That seemed to give him pause. The other guard however already had his own out, and aimed in my direction. Ventralis gave a motion for him to hold fire though. "We also have heart monitors in our suits," I continued to bluff. "If it flat lines, Shepard would be back up here before you know it."

"By then, it would be too late," Ventralis replied darkly. His comment made my blood run cold. "If she's even still alive."

"She is!" I spurted. "But why in the hell would you even listen to Benezia in the first place? Why would you kill all these scientists? The people you've been working with the entire time you've been here!? What kind of monster are you?!"

"I'm carrying out the order because I work for Binary Helix," he replied stoic. "And the Matriarch is an executive secretary for the corporation. She wants the Rachni outbreak and Binary Helix's hand in it to be covered up, so we're-"

"I get the reasoning behind the order," I exclaimed, "But why the hell are you FOLLOWING it!?"

"Because these very 'scientists' are the ones responsible for the Rachni attacking us in the first place!" he yelled back at me. "I lost four men to them today alone. FOUR!"

"Not all of them worked on the Rachni!" I shot back.

"Yeah, some of them worked on the development of illegal biotoxins to be used for biochemical warfare. Or ways to clone functioning organisms possessing biotic abilities too!"

"Captain, you're breaking your NDA," the gun for hire named Allen interrupted him. Then to me, Allen also added "Does it make it better that we're also being paid top dollar for this?"

Ventralis scowled in his direction again.

"Do you not realize that she's a criminal?"

That accusation in particular caused the Captain to raise an eyebrow. "I doubt the Matriarch was the sole person who authorized the Rachni project. And we're on Noveria. I doubt the suits would even consider it illegal-"

"What?" I replied confused. "No, I'm talking about the fact that she's doing this all for Saren! The rogue Spectre. An interstellar terrorist currently wanted by the Citadel Council!"

"What? You're talking out of your ass," Allen murmured. "There's no way-"

"And what do you think she'll do to all of you once you do what she asks?" I now asked them. "A cover-up by killing everyone involved only works if everyone involved is actually dead!" His eyes seemed to widen at the comment, as if he had never even contemplated the idea. "You think a corporation would assassinate its own employees?!" I pointed out next. "She's on the lam with Saren, and they're just covering their tracks in case anyone followed her here! Which we did!" I reminded them.

Ventralis was silent. And his buddy happened to noticed this. "...you're not actually believing this are you Captain? Did you see the number she gave us!? You'd-"

"It's off," Ventralis suddenly cut him off.

"But Captain-"

"It's off! Capische?" the Captain yelled at his subordinate.

With that, Allen fell silent. "...yes sir."

Then Ventralis turned his attention back to me. "You're right. That's been on my mind ever since the Matriarch gave us those orders...it's kind of obvious now that I think about it." The man frowned. "Forget Benezia. And forget Binary Helix." And the dread that had been consuming my every thought vanished. My muscles relaxed, I let out a sigh of relief, and lowered my gun. "But we'll have to be careful going back in. Since Ramirez hasn't come out here to check yet, my men will likely expect me to give the order as soon as we enter the room."

"I understand," I replied. "What will you do?"

"I'm just going to walk in and shake my head. That's the sign. They'll know the whole thing's off when I do."

And I couldn't believe it. I had done it.

"...thank you."

"No..thank you," Ventralis replied with a solemn nod.

"Shit," Allen muttered as we began our walk back.

* * *

**Several Hallways Later.**

Once we got back to the common area of Rift Station, you could feel the tension in the air. Yeah, it was so thick that everybody in the room was visibly uncomfortable. Even the Elcor. Guards all around it stood on edge, each holding their guns a little_ too_ tight, who I knew were just waiting for Ventralis' order. I found Ashley and Tali no longer talking with Alestia in the center of the room, but instead, standing in the far right corner of the room where I had originally woken up. Next to that injured Salarian doctor. They too, were more than alert, as I could see that they already had their guns locked and loaded. Thus, the whole world seemed to come to a stand still as they waited for the order that never came.

And though it never did come...lives were still lost regardless.

As soon as I heard the click, I knew I had failed.

_Adrenaline Rush._

It was the sound of an unfolding gun. And it had come from right behind me. Where Ventralis just happened to be standing. As I spun around at inhuman speed, faster than I could have thought possible, before Ventrali's assault rifle had even finished unfolding, the mercenary Allen began to slowly yell:

"Cleeeeeeea-"

Upon spinning around, I locked eyes with Ventralis for just a moment, before pistol-whipping the fuck out of him with my Predator. I'm pretty sure I broke his nose with how hard I hit it, but of course, the bastard deserved it. As he fell toward the floor, I turned my attention now to Allen, who was continuing to yell:

"-aan Houuussssse-"

Before he had even registered what had happened to Ventralis beside him, I sent a flying knee right into his stomach, causing him to keel over in pain upon impact. Now that he was bent over, I swung my pistol butt down, hitting him sharply on the neck. And it was in that instant that my vision began to return to normal.

"Ohhhhh shhhit," I ended up saying as it had ended much quicker than I had anticipated. The next time I blinked, guards were already firing in my direction. Before I knew it, I had already hoisted Allen back up with my arm around his neck and used him as a human shield. Returning fire, I saw at the very back of the room two more guards entering the fray. They immediately fired upon the first person they saw...which happened to be the Salarian lying on the cot next to Ashley and Tali. Gunfire was immediately returned on their position...but not by them.

"DOCTOR PALON!"

A guard in the middle of the room had begun firing on the two newcomers after yelling the Salarian's name.

"Ramirez YOU SON OF a-"

That guard was subsequently interrupted by an overload sent from Tali's omni-tool, and then gunned down by Ashley next. And by now, screams were breaking out all across the room, as the entire area had become a warzone. Guards firing in every direction: at scientists, at Tali, at Ashley, at me, at the various other guards who were now of the opinion that what they were doing might just be wrong...it was just simply chaos. I had no idea who to shoot at as bullets whizzed by in every direction. Then the shields of Allen dropped and the man was assuredly killed. I decided at the point to just shoot at the ones trying to do the same to me.

I quickly dropped the lifeless body and dove to my right, taking cover behind a conveniently placed crate that was convenient height of a grown man. As I popped out around it to return fire on the guards, I noticed people were now hitting the floor left and right. Not all of them conscious. Ashley and Tali though were still relatively safe, currently in the process of taking down the defense drones that had just flown into the room.

"Resolutely, I accept death with open arms. May the ancestors of Dekunna have mercy on my soulllll-"

The Elcor's distracting last words were immediately interrupted by Ramirez, who yelled for 'Petozi' to get down. In the process of doing so however, the guard with a heart of gold was hit. Swept up in another wave of frenzied adrenaline, I began to immediately return fire on the perpetrator responsible. The Elcor, Petozi, now hugging the floor, pulled the wounded Ramirez safely back against the crates that were sheltering his hump.

As my target hit the floor, I emptied my gun's heat sink and turned my attention toward my next victim, who was none other than the Asari commando Alestia herself. She had to be taken down before she joined the fray. Lord knows how drastically a biotic would alter the playing field. But before I could even line her up in my sights however, Ashley had already tackled the Asari to the floor, yelling "Get down!" as a drone swooped overhead.

_IDIOT-_

The drone, along with two more guards, dropped across the room as she did this, although I wasn't entirely concerned with the how or why. I was too busy shouting "SHE'S ON THEIR SIDE!" to the two Normandy squad members currently trying to protect said commando. But the warning came too late. They were both subsequently thrown backwards in an enormous biotic display. And as the two landed on the metal floor in a daze, Alestia quickly pulled herself back up, taking out a concealed firearm in the process, and pointed it in their direction with a sinister, almost cartoonishly so, grin.

I had already left cover at that point, moving at cheetah-like speeds toward their position. If the Asari Commando had been defenseless, and was just wearing the plain uniform of a science officer, I could have taken her down with one slug. But if the Asari had a concealed kinetic barrier, or biotic barrier up, I don't know if I could finish her off before she did the same to one of the girls. I couldn't, and didn't, want to take that risk. As Alestia open-fired unsportsmanlike on the two lying dazed on the ground, in an attempt at what I assume was to kill them, I tackled her head-on into the bunk room.

Landing on top of the Asari, I ripped my gun back off its magclip and immediately brought it level with her head. Even if Alestia did have shields, with the gun this close, it wouldn't matter. It was past its threshold. I held the Predator just inches away from her forehead, finger sitting on the trigger, ready to pull. But...even with death knocking at her door, I found Alestia staring back at me defiantly, her resolve unwavering. Her crystal blue eyes filled with contempt, her nose scrunched in disgust. The woman bared her teeth as she hissed at me.

"Get on with it."

But staring at Alestia's face...her scaly ass face...her bright blue scaly ass face...her petite, scowling, bright blue scaly ass face...

It quickly became apparent that I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't fucking do it. And she soon realized it too.

In an instant, a purple aura enveloped her, and I quickly found myself sailing clear across the room, out of the barracks and back into Rift Station's main chamber, right up until my body collided with a crate. Upon impact, I got the wind knocked out of me and I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. And as I lay there, Dr. Alestia Iallis, if that was even her real name, exited the room we had just been in and started to saunter over in my direction. And as she did, I quickly found my sight blurring, so bad that I don't think I could have even seen a two-story house. And I didn't fail to notice around me that not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

"You should have taken the shot when you had the chance," the Asari said, drawing her weapon once again. "Unfortunately for you, you won't be getting one again."

"No. He won't."

BLAM.

I hit my head against the back of the crate in shock as the Asari dropped to the cold floor dead. Instead of the gratitude I should be feeling however, I couldn't help but think her timing was a little convenient. A little TOO convenient.

"Shepard!"

But it didn't mater. Tali and Ashley both got up from where they had just been crouching, having been distracted from the entire diatribe by a dying scientist up until the shotgun blast, and now jogged over to the room's most recent arrivals. As they reconvened with the rest of the group, Garrus walked over to me and extended a hand, helping me back onto my feet.

"What the hell's going on here?!" Shepard asked, as most people would when they came upon such a drastic turn of events.

"Why don't you ask him," I replied first, pointing to Ventralis still lying on the ground several feet away.

As Shepard leaned down over him, I looked back across the room. And like I had thought, I found little _was_ moving in the room around us, though that didn't mean everyone was dead like I had morbidly presumed. Doctor Cohen and several associates sat in a circle, currently helping the injured doctor Tali and Ashley had just been attending to, while Petozi, the Elcor, sat still on his haunches, left evidently untouched by the fire fight that had raged around him. In addition to these individuals, sitting next to Petozi, was the turncoat Ramirez, who was not as severely injured as I had previously thought either.

I let out a labored sigh, and returned my attention to the company present. I didn't fail to notice though that those who had just returned looked like shit. They had clearly had had it rough in the Hot Labs. Every one of their armor's were scruffed and scratched, several of them having places that had melted entirely away. Every one of their faces were cut and bruised, not to mention stained with blood, though I don't think it was their own. And the looks they had on their faces, Liara especially...seemed to say they had seen things no man/woman should ever see.

I'd still say we had had it worse though.

And in other news, it became clear very quickly that Ventralis wasn't going to talk. Mostly because he was still knocked out cold. From what, I had no idea, as there was no possible way I had hit him hard enough to do that. In any case, in light of this turn of events, Ashley quickly filled Shepard in on the missing details instead.

"So, is every remaining staff member here and accounted for?" Shepard said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear after Ashley finished her rendition of events.

"Not everyone," the man I previously recognized as Doctor Cohen said from the back. "I believe Han Olar, Tulvus Marvein, and Matt McCallish are still downstairs in the scientist quarters."

_OH SHIT-_

"We have to get down there right now!" I immediately relayed to Shepard, once again, in a panic.

"What is it now?"

"Uh, Benezia brought commandos with her right? There could be more downstairs threatening to finish off the remaining scientists!"

Shepard seemed to take that as reason enough. "Everyone to the lift!" Ashley made sure to be one of the first to leave for it, so Shepard didn't have time to order her injured ass to stay.

And as the rest also started in it's direction, I decided to take it upon myself to ask "Doctor! Think you can hold down the fort until we get back?"

"I can try," he replied. "But simply, why? Why did Ventralis and his men from the ERCS commit all this needless bloodshed?!"

_ERCS...of fucking course they were._

"Ask him when he wakes up," I repeated, pointing to Ventralis as I followed Shepard toward the elevator. "Or ask Ramirez!"

The shout-out caused the last remaining guard to nearly jump in response. Despite his complicity in the act...at least in the end, the guy took a stand for what he believed in. No shame to be held in that.

* * *

**One Elevator Ride Later.**

As soon as the lift's doors opened, we found we had arrived just in time.

"What? Will I get a 'you know too much speech'?"

"Shut up," the commando replied annoyed, cocking her gun.

"Step away from the Volus!" I shouted from the back of the elevator.

"Dammit you ass," Shepard cursed, as we were forced to immediately go into room guns blazing. It proved to be a novel idea however as the Asari and her Geth were taken care of lickety-split. They hadn't had a chance. The only other left standing beside _the squad_ at the end of the fight was our Volus scientist. Fortunately.

"Everywhere I go, I'm the only survivor," the Volus muttered. "Maybe you'd better stand back."

Then I noticed the two other scientists, already dead. Unfortunately.

"Get a hold of yourself," Shepard replied.

"They killed the science teams," the Volus solemnly said. "We know what they did. The company wants to bury their mistake."

"Tried being the key word," I replied.

"There are still survivors in Rift Station. We'll take you there," Kaidan told him.

"No, I'd only endanger them too."

"Have you seen Matriarch Benezia?" Shepard quickly cut in.

"Yes, the Matriarch. They sent the Matriarch to make us disappear."

"Benezia? So she's still ali-she's here?" Liara stammered.

"Yes. She ordered Ventralis to send you to the Hot Labs. She expected the Rachni to kill you."

"Nearly did," Garrus said.

"Speak for yourself," Wrex snorted.

Shepard motioned for them to cut the chatter. "Where is she?"

"She is in the Secure Labs. The passage at the back of this room leads to it from here."

"Then let's go collect the lady," Shepard remarked.

"Do whatever you like," the Volus curtly replied. "I'm getting off this mountain."

_Ah, I wish I could join you pal. _

But...there's still one thing left for us to do.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Omni-gel Security Concerns**

You're familiar with it agent. The catch-all that's made the Humans richer beyond belief. The stuff that can consume anything on a door to whatever you're currently holding in your hands. I guess you _could_ call it 'miracle gel' like you did in your last report, but technically the stuff is just composed of common, reusable industrial plastic, ceramic, and light alloys kept in a patented semi-molten state of non-newtonian fluid. A patent we've had yet to crack which is the real miracle here. But I get your jist.

And I think it's one of the Broker's biggest fears right now too. Any door, any security system, slathered in enough of that stuff will be rendered useless. Eats it's way through whatever the panels are made of, snakes through whatever it can't, and is pretty much guaranteed of short circuiting it. A pyjak could break into our systems with enough of the stuff. Hell, maybe even a Human haha. It's no wonder the thing's become used by everybody and their mother since its release onto the market.

But here's the good news...I think my division's just made a breakthrough! Currently working on a new allosteric composite material that the stuff can't stand. Don't want to offend but you're not currently on a need to know basis to know the specifics...but if it turns out legit, we may be looking at quite the hefty payload from the Broker. And if you can come through with this delivery, we might even put in a good word for you too.

Good luck on getting it here.

Regards,

_Doctor Mantis Toboggan, MD_

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**You know what always bothered me? How did Cerberus get a hold of all those Rachni and Thorian Creepers on Binthu? Like, how would they know about a class whatever secret of Exogeni's? Even if they had agents with access to it, how the hell did they get a creeper off of Feros? Same situation for Binary Helix and the Rachni. So I'm telling you, there could only be one explanation...which Shepard might have just come to conclude on her own in the previous chapter. Has anyone ever noticed that the in game logo for Binary Helix is just one hexagon short of Cerberus'? Coincidence? I THINK NOT. Binary Helix and Exogeni are Cerberus Fronts I tell you! They're wacky experiments and lack of ethics are just up Cerberus' alley! And what does that mean?! Absolutely nothing!**

**Speaking of Exogeni and the Thorian though...with how long we've been on Noveria now, I fear that Feros' arc alone might be another ten chapters now. At least. Oh dear.**

**And before I forget:**

**Toothy - **I tried to clear it up a tad more in the previous chapter, but Shield's left hand is still very much lacking two fingers. It's just not impairing every one of his actions as much as I thought it would. His maimed phalanges will definitely be addressed in the future tho. And fuck you.

**Lanny** \- Haha, you'd think so right? But just when he thought he was out...things just keep pulling him right. back. IN!

**PeterQuill'sWalkman **\- And hope this sates your lust for action bro...I really do. I don't know how much more excitement like this Shield can take.

**Iota Draconis - **Thank you very much! :)

**Wolfund -** And thanks for the review too pal. Also- fuck you.

**In the Next Chapter: "Now when you say 'ethnic cleansing'...what exactly do you mean?"**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	32. Xenobiological Xenocide

KABANG. KABOOM. There were even some KA-BLAMS.

Or those were the sounds that we WOULD have heard had we run into any more of Benezia's commandos or Geth. Fortunately for them, the remaining hallways of the science facility ahead of us had been completely empty. We made our way down through the lower levels, turn after turn, door after door, and bizarrely, reached our final destination without incident. But everything was a little quiet. A little too quiet. Or I guess quieter than a laboratory host to a gaggle of scientific horrors should be. Assuredly, the noise level of the facility was not at its right amount.

As I pondered this phenomenon, I found myself stopped right as I turned the next corner, and my eyes bulged, already panicking with what abomination could be holding everyone up in the hall ahead now. What I soon learned to my annoyance however was that we were all just waiting for Shepard, who was currently staring up absent-mindedly at a bright, orange, neon sign. After some time, she subtly looked back over her shoulder at us, presumably checking to see if everyone was at the ready. And as she did, I think we all knew this was it. Crunch time.

Her worries apparently sated, Shepard took several more steps toward the door in front of us before making her belt dispense a small grey capsule. Pressing the thing up against the door, she activated her omni-tool and with a bright orange flash from her handheld, the capsule erupted into a considerable amount of grey goop. And with that inordinate amount of omni-gel slathered over the door, the barrier's locking mechanism began to go haywire.

The yellow-red-yellow-red-orange-red-yellow-orange-red-yellow circle stopped once it finally turned green, and then slowly slid open before us. And as everyone else began to put on their game faces, cocked their guns, and readied themselves for the final confrontation straight ahead, I could only think one thing as we walked into the lab and laid our eyes on our final foe.

_DAT BOOTY._

All of my dread, anxiety and fears up to that moment were immediately washed away by the fact that Stacy's mom didn't have diddly-squat on Liara's. With her back turned, you could have mistaken her for a latin pop-star. I mean, the way her clothes were hugging her curves was just straight-up gratuitous man. I mean damn gurl. Asari promiscuity was obviously just an urban legend in the MEverse...but if that's how a majority of Asari Matriarchs dress, with skin-tight pinstriped suits leaving almost nothing to your imagination, then I could see why most thought the myth true. Real talk. It was kind of hard to focus when the thousand year old Asari turned around and started her monologue.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair." Benezia had already turned her back on us again, redirecting our attention to the tank beside her.

I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped again now, but for different reasons. Like everything so far...the graphics of second gen consoles didn't do it justice. Before us, inside the insanely large tank, was the most gigantic lobster I had ever seen in my life, what must have been a fifty-foot long abomination. Dozens of bright blue evanescent orbs were embedded all over its body, causing a faint aura to emit beyond its enclosure. It honestly just hit home why the things looked so much like the xenomorphs from Alien. They were both hella ugly. The monstrosity before us was most definitely the Rachni queen. And just like that, I had the fear of god put back in me.

"Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." Benezia's head swiveled back around. "I won't be moved by sympathy...no matter who you bring into this confrontation."

_Really? Is that what would you call this? A 'confrontation'?_

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't really care," Shepard retorted.

"Indeed?" the old Asari replied incredulous. Benezia's eyes then focused on the Asari beside her. "What have you told her about me, Liara?"

"What could I have possibly told her mother? That you're insane? Evil?!" Liara's voice steadily climbed. "Should I explain to her how to kill you?! What could I SAY?!"

Benezia seemed to ignore her child's words now, her eyes retraining themselves upon Shepard. "Have you faced an Asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

_Wait...how long have Humans been a part of the Galactic community? You're telling me that over several decades of integration, only a handful of us have ever run into Asari-_

"Doesn't matter. You and your commandos won't look so smug with holes in your heads," Shepard bit back.

"Your insolence is a poor mask for your fear."

Now...I've never quite heard someone talk like a villain from a James Bond movie before. So I have to say, this was a pretty special moment for me.

Then before I knew what was happening next, Benezia shot out her arm, unleashing an enormous shockwave of violet energy in our direction. As I prepared myself to be flung across the room, Shepard immediately responded with her own, thrusting a giant azure sphere from her hands at it. The two biotic fields collided and exploded in dramatic fashion, with the light emanating from the blast matching a supernova.

Or I would think. Because it was pretty bright. Bright enough to blind us all anyway. And as everyone covered their eyes in response, barely enduring the gales coming from the detonation, we heard the doors across the room slide open. Through squinting my eyes and blinking furiously, I could just barely make out Asari commandos and Geth pouring into the room behind Benezia.

"Kill them all!" Wrex suddenly shouted. Wasn't quite the most heroic battle cry but...whatever.

Following his lead, Shepard immediately started open firing on them with Ashley, while Tali took cover and began operating her tool. "Team Bravo! Cover the other walkway!" she shouted. Kaidan, Garrus, and Liara immediately made for the right side of the room in response. "You too Shield!" she grunted swinging behind a human-sized crate.

I was going to move regardless. I was standing in the middle of a doorway completely exposed to all the bullets and mass effect fields flying across the room. Before I knew it, I was already diving for the floor as an Asari flung a warp toward me in particular. After face planting into the metal grate below, I immediately popped back up and made a dash to the right after the others. I could hear Shepard uttering expletives as she subsequently got hit by a mass effect field behind me.

I got to the other side of the room right in time to find a Geth suddenly float over my head.

"SHIELD-"

"I got it!" I shouted as I shot it twice through the headlight. At the same time, Liara decided to fling a singularity down our designated walkway. Two sluggish commandos were immediately caught in it, and soon found themselves being lifted up into the air. They didn't have a chance as they were then subsequently shot like the fish in a barrel they were. The next thing I knew, Kaidan was shouting "Cover me!" as he enveloped himself in a violet barrier and started sprinting down the walk himself. I obliged, helping Garrus open fire on a Geth sniper at the end of it. Garrus somehow got the kill, landing a head shot once its shields had downed, and in doing so, simultaneously cleared the opposite end for Kaidan. After that, Garrus gave a quick nod to me, and I took that as my own cue. I felt my feet pound down the walkway after the lieutenant next.

Bad idea it turned out, because as soon as I had, three Geth entered the room from the door behind me. Liara and Garrus suddenly found themselves grappling with the robots in hand to hand combat. Before I could run back to help them however, the four Geth in the only unsieged corner of the room began open firing. On me. On him. On us. Kaidan and I both gritted our teeth as our kinetic barriers were suddenly pelted with slugs. A second later and we had already been forced to take cover.

"What's the move?!" I shouted.

As he was about to speak, a woman suddenly yelled out in pain. Both our eyes immediately swung toward the center of the room, focusing on the platform in front of the lobster cage. A platform upon which Shepard and Benezia were currently locked in a biotic duel. Violet sparks and explosions were happening left and right, vaguely reminding me of an episode of Dragon Ball Z. Ashley and Tali were still laying down cover fire from our original entry point. And I quickly deduced that Wrex had been flung off the walkway during the fight, as the Krogan was currently trying to climb his way back to the action from a pit deep below the Rachni cage far above.

"SHEPARD!"

It didn't seem to matter who the cry belonged to, as Kaidan was already running to Shepard's aid. Right down a path that had him heading straight for the corner across from us. The corner still occupied by four Geth soldiers. Or three, as one of them suddenly dropped. Feeling a sudden tap on my shoulder, I turned around to find Liara motioning for me to stand aside. Obliging her, the blue beauty flung another singularity from her hand, albeit with a slight grimace on her face. The action lifted two more Geth opposite of us into the air. And right as Kaidan reached the corner, he obliterated the remaining Geth trooper standing in his way with a biotic blast.

Apparently Liara and Garrus hadn't needed our help after all. Once our resident Turian joined us not a moment later, we three followed the Lieutenant's trail, not failing to off the two remaining Geth floating above us on our way over. And upon climbing the stairs after him, I found that Alenko and Shepard didn't need our help either. They simply stood where they were, posing heroically, towering above the fallen Lady Benezia.

"This is not over," the Matriarch spoke mistaken from the ground, holding her bleeding stomach. Ashley, Tali, and Wrex didn't take much longer to join us. "Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."

"Your soldiers were sloppy," Shepard said, hanging her pistol at her side. "I expected better from _Asari commandos. _Probably why Humans have seen so few of them."

Benezia slowly tried to push herself off the ground, causing several squad mates to raise their weapons in response. "I will not...betray him. You will...uhhh...you-"

Then I saw it. Or I thought I saw it. Though I guess...it wasn't something that I could ever _physically_ see. Not like her pupils had just dilated or anything, but...it was like you could actually _see_ it lose hold of her. Like you could tell that an immense burden had just been lifted off her shoulders, like witnessing the mood shift of someone who just heard that they were going to be a parent or that a relative just passed. It was a strange thing to observe...and I didn't like it.

Though I also like to think that Shepard noticed this sudden change in Benezia's demeanor as well. "You must listen," Benezia suddenly blurted in distress, in a tone far different from the one of superiority she had just seconds ago. "Saren still whispers in my mind. I-I can fight his compulsions. Bu...But the indoctrination...is strong." She brought her hands to the sides of head.

"What?" Wrex immediately replied, with a tone of his own that seemed to say 'bullshit'.

"Saren's controlling you?" Shepard now asked too with a healthy serving of doubt. "Why are you suddenly able to break free now?"

"It wouldn't happen to just be because we won would it?" Ashley added.

"I sealed a part of my mind...sealed it away from the indoctrination," Benezia struggled to reply. Then she suddenly shut her eyes, seemingly in great pain.

"Uhuh," Ashley muttered under her breath.

"Saving it...for a moment when I could help d-destroy him...it will not last long," Benezia gasped as she suddenly fell against the railing next to her.

"You expect us to believe that load of varrenshit?" Wrex grumbled.

But before Shepard or anyone else could mouth their skepticism again, I made my own attempt to sway the others to the truth. Because they weren't supposed to show this much skepticism for the Matriarch. They were never like this during the game. They never questioned _this. _

"Even if she's not telling the truth...maybe Benezia thinks that she is? Shouldn't we give her a chance to at least explain herself before we do something we might regret?" It was impossible to not notice how my unwarranted opinion caused a glimmer of hate to appear in Shepard's eyes, though her attention was still focused on Benezia. Out of everyone, Liara appeared to be the only one who appreciated my words of reason.

"How can he compel you? He's not even here." Though Shepard didn't exactly seem fond of my outburst...she at least took the advice. Or maybe she had already planned to ask in the first place. Regardless of the reasoning, yeah, at least she addressed the idea of how such a thing would even be possible if it were true. I'd take what I could get at any rate. I tallied this as a win in my book.

"People are not themselves around Saren," Benezia slowly responded. "You come to idolize him. Worship him. You would do anything for him."

"Why?" Garrus asked.

Benezia suddenly stared him dead in the eyes and said, "Sovereign. The key is Sovereign."

"Sovereign?" Tali asked confused.

"His flagship," Benezia clarified. "It is a dreadnought of incredible size, and its power is extraordinary."

"The ship that was on Eden Prime!" I decided to add theatrically, almost like I was part of a play, just in case one of their memories needed refreshing.

"I remember seeing it when we first touched ground," Shepard muttered next, clearly uneasy. "Ships of that size shouldn't even be able to land on a planet."

"It has a very powerful mass effect drive. But that is not an inkling of Sovereign's true power." Benezia then seemed to take a pause solely for dramatic effect. But it was enough to capture everyone's attention. "The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will se-seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you." Her words were haunting, piquing the interests of some, deeply disturbing the rest. I for example, felt a sudden chill creep over me as she had spoken."It is subtle at first. I thought I was strong enough to re...resist. Instead...I became a willing tool. Eager to serve. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."

The gravitas of her words seemed to only go over Shepard's head, as our Spectre then simply replied, "Tell me where the Mu gate is then. Before I lose my temper."

"Of course Commander," Benezia complied. She gently pushed herself of the railing with strained effort, and started to slowly take steps closer to the Commander. And as she did, everyone tensed. But instead of the weapon they all expected, the Matriarch just drew from her sleeve a small metal object. "I transcribed the data to an OSD. Take it. Please."

"Knowing the relay's coordinates isn't enough," Garrus suddenly spoke up next. "Do you know where he planned to go from there?"

"Saren wouldn't tell me his destination. But...you must find out quickly. I transmitted the coordinates to him before you arrived. You have to stop-" The Asari suddenly brought a hand to her head with a gasp of pain. "I can't-AH." She shook it. "His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should-" She let out another groan and staggered backwards. "You should-"

"Mother!" Liara pleaded after her. "I-Don't leave! Fight him!"

Benezia gave her a sad smile. "You've always made me proud, Liara." And just like that. Gone. Her eyes dropped to the ground for less than a second before turning back up at us.

"Die."

As biotic fields began to swirl around her, Shepard open fired. As did the rest. Though not all at her. Some were aimed at the Asari commandos trying to sneak up on us. Some at the air as they were lifted up into it. But by the end of the ordeal, our enemies were dead, and we weren't. Though, I hoped that the rest didn't just think Benezia did all this to distract them. That would turn out to be...problematic.

"I can...not...go on," the elder Asari started to speak again with her sanity returned, albeit now bleeding even more profusely. "You...you will have to stop them Shepard," she said kneeling now, blue blood continuing to drip onto the floor.

"First you turn on the Council, and now on Saren. You're not loyal to anything, are you?"

"Didn't you just hear she was brainwashed?" I quickly snapped. There couldn't be any doubt. No one could be allowed to think that her indoctrination was just..._made up._

"Hm," the matriarch just seemed to utter absent-minded in return. "I suppose that...that is how history will know me." The Asari tried to stand up, but staggered backwards to a column behind her and slid down it.

"Mother..." Liara murmured.

"Good night...Little Wing. I will see you again...with the dawn." I looked away from the dying woman, only to find a single tear roll down our own Asari's cheek. Then Benezia spoke her final words, which caused me to reluctantly return to the sight of the dying woman in front us. "No...light? They always said there would...be a...a..."

And then she left us, her head rolling limply to its side, the sight leaving a rank taste in mouth.

Finding out in your last moments alive, after being killed by the friends of your own daughter, that the afterlife you believed in for the last thousand years didn't exist? Thoroughly horrific. And depressing. It sucked. And then I almost laughed. This whole planet sucked.

As she passed, Liara looked away, tucking her hands underneath her armpits, tears rolling down her cheeks silently. I tried to put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her but...I didn't have any words to console her with. I didn't know what I could possibly say. And after grimly watching Benezia's passing, Shepard turned slowly to the only other loose end remaining. She approached the cage while holding a hand warily to her face, edging toward the creature responsible for all this. As I retracted my hand from Liara's shoulder, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. And so did several others.

"Shepard!"

As they yelled to get her attention, the Rachni queen suddenly let out a screech, causing Shepard to leap backwards, right into the shambling corpse behind her. Shepard shoved herself away from the dead Asari, and Ashley immediately put a few bullets into it with her itchy trigger finger. But despite this, it remained standing. Standing still. Deathly still.

"We filled you with enough lead to stop an Elcor," Shepard said shocked, pointing her gun at her. "How are you still alive?!"

"This vessel is at the edge. Yet she struggles. You cannot see her magnificence. We are breathing on the embers."

"Who I am speaking to here?" Shepard quickly asked, eyes darting from the Asari zombie to the creature behind her. I think she already knew the answer before the corpse gave her a reply.

"We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We. Are. Rachni."

A look of distaste crossed Shepard's face. "I didn't come here to talk to bugs."

_Yeah because...when does anyone ever? Who the hell DOES talk to bugs Shepard? Tell me. Who?_

"But. You do not. This one serves. As our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless."

"Musics? What?" Ashley asked completely confused.

"Your ways of communicating are strange. Flat. It does not color the air. When we speak. One moves all."

"This is going to be a fun conversation," Wrex muttered.

"How are you speaking through her?" Kaidan asked in bewilderment, taking his turn next.

"Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging." Her words were pretty much complete nonsense, but at the same time, as I heard them leave the Asari's mouth, also sounded utterly poetic. "She has colors we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful."

_Wait. Did that thing just say the death throes of someone dying were beautiful? That's not exactly something you want to tell someone deciding whether or not to kill you. Especially since you're already using a dead corpse to talk to them-oh...oh dear god. Is Shepard going to-_

"You are not in harmony with those who hoped to control us," the dead Asari with pale, milk-white, pupil-less eyes continued to echo. "What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

"There are acid tanks rigged up on that thing," Wrex suddenly boomed next to Shepard. "Set them off! Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don't let them come back!"

"Shepard," Kaidan immediately retorted next, now at Shepard's other side. "There's some old grudges in the galaxy. Grudges Humans should stay out of. If we kill her, we'd kill an entire race."

"Commander I disagree," Ashley now spoke up. "I don't trust this thing. We know its kind are killers. Who's to say they won't do it again?"

"No! We...I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance. Songs the color of oily shadows. Their tones from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with sour yellow notes."

"I still fully recommend using the tanks," Williams remarked.

"They made a mistake," Liara suddenly objected, throwing off her state of melancholy. "They let the Krogan go too far! This is a chance for us to atone. She has done nothing to us Shepard!"

"What would you do if you were freed?" Tali took the short lull to ask innocently.

"We would seek a hidden place. Where we could teach our children harmony. Without the involvement of others. If they understand...perhaps...we would return."

And upon hearing that, it seemed Tali reached consensus. "She's the last of her race, Shepard!" the Quarian suddenly blurted. "I don't think we have the objectivity to judge her," she sheepishly added. Strangely enough, it seemed that our Quarian could identify with someone who's entire race was on the verge of extinction.

"I agree with Tali, Shepard. If you kill her, you consign an entire race to death. We should let the Citadel Council decide her fate," Garrus advised.

"Your companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory."

"..."

She was lost in thought. Silence fell across the room as our options became clear. Kill the Rachni. Or free them. Both would lead to their reappearance two years from now, but no one around me could possibly know that. I was split on what to do myself. Morality aside, war assets were all that came of the Rachni in the end. Regardless of choices made. What happened here made no difference. None at all. Hell, I wasn't even planning to be around by 2186. But regardless of what I thought, before I had the chance to give my own two-cents, Shepard handed the Rachni Queen her answer.

It was not what I was expecting. Or maybe it was. After everything...I guess it was probably what I should have.

"...make your peace with the galaxy. The Rachni are a dead race."

"No!" Liara suddenly said alarmed.

Ashley suddenly whipped around and gave her a cautionary look. As if she was warning her not to do anything stupid.

"Stop feeling and think!" Liara suddenly spoke with conviction despite the stink eye. "Even if you disagree with Asari morals, you must see she could be an ally!"

"They were supposed to be an ally of Saren. You saw what happened," Wrex retorted.

"Commander," Kaidan now spoke again. "Genocide is way beyond the scope of our mandate here."

"Our mandate is 'whatever's necessary'," Wrex bit back. "If you don't have the guts to follow through, the door's over there."

"Is our kind so frightening? You would seek our silence if you cannot muffle our songs? If you cannot have us as your obedient claws?"

In response to them all, the Commander merely gave the crew a cursory glance before uttering this timeless, philosophical piece-

"This time, stay dead!"

Garrus and Kaidan looked solemnly on as the Commander made her decision clear. Liara and Tali just looked on in shock as Shepard made her way over to the console. Wrex and Ashley merely looked on with approval as Shepard neared the controls. The dead Asari thrall simply looked on with a face contorted in rage.

"We will not embrace the great silence!"

The Asari suddenly leaped at Shepard, causing her to stumble backwards. The rest of the team could only look on in shock as the Commander now found herself grappling with a blue zombie. As it brought down its blue nails against Shepard's face, and with everyone else frozen in place, I took it upon myself to sprint toward the console that would decide her fate. I started tapping away wildly, clicking whatever buttons I could at random until two brightly colored options popped up literally not a second later. Thank god. One purple, one grey, both completely indecipherable with alien symbols. I winced as I quickly hit the purple one without delay, and shut my eyes as the cage above me let out a loud hiss.

_Oh what the fuck did I just-_

The next thing I knew, my knees were buckling beneath me, a searing pain was spreading from the base of my skull, and I was hitting the cold metal floor. With my head. And as I begun to lose consciousness, everything turning black around me...one last thought crept across my mind. A singular realization. An epiphany if you will.

_I really...need...to wear...a helmet-_

* * *

I blinked my eyes once. Then twice. And then I sighed once they adjusted to the sight above me. Or in front of me. Or whatever. It was hard to tell it's position in a place that lacked both space and/or time.

"...and what the hell do you want?"

It simply flickered.

"Heh...you're a worthless piece of garbage you know that?"

It's light dimmed.

"Yeah...no, you're right. Not like it's your fault I'm so shitty at everything...but then...what the fuck. Does any of this actually impact anything? Does leveling up one thing unlock another previously locked thing? And really. What even constitutes a level up? Is there any set of guidelines at all for any of this shit?!"

It flickered. And then dimmed. And then flickered again. It wasn't sentient. It didn't register anything I said...nor anything I said for the last three sessions for that matter either. But I liked pretending it did. Liked to pretend I had something to remind me that I was a stranger here. That I didn't belong to this place. That I wasn't completely insane. Or realistically, I probably already was. I couldn't really tell anymore and I couldn't really do anything about it at this point.

"Right...so...I don't know board...what the hell do you think I should pick?"

Skill Rank (0-7)

Pistol - 3

Shotgun - 0

Assault Rifles - 0

Sniper Rifles - 0

Adrenaline Rush - 3 *Locked*

First Aid - 0

Electronics - 0

Decryption - 0

Fitness - 1

Combat Mastery - 1

Persuasion - 4 (Medium)

*Locked*

Available Points: 3

It flickered silently again.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**NDC Board Meeting - Subject: Peak 15**

/20:02/ Secure Comm Buoy #54789254 / Encrypted / #5496 - MS - 5984

Sender: Agent Crawford

*Play Recording*

Before I send you over the transcript Gellix, I'm gonna warn ya, there's a lotta shit to comb through. A week's worth of information to read up on easily. The 'Board' have this agenda they go through at the start of every meeting that easily lasts an hour- basically just a bunch of name dropping and subject taglines and who's present to talk about what and shit. You can easily go brain dead within the first minute. And then after that, they go over the protocols for addressing one another next, who can speak when and for how long and yadda yadda yadda. Honest to god, I'd never support bureaucracy if this bullshit is that common, I'm telling you. And then to top it all off, they take _breaks _as soon as they finish discussing a single topic. The entire thing easily lasts a day and is easily the worst point of my week.

So you better thank me for combing through it beforehand. The amount of information in just one of these meetings could easily fill an encyclopedia. So...I guess I should go ahead and start. Uh...let's see...there was the matter of the protesters sneaking into the Port to protest Synthetic Insights' work earlier this week...security got 'em pretty easily though...then there was the debacle with Synthetic Insights manager being corrupt...that was a doozy for the board...oh, and then there were those dead mercenaries found in Synthetic Insights later that week...man was that one an eye-opener. Easily caused an uproar. Then, actually, right after that, an agent of theirs brings up the fact that the manager of Synthetic Insights formally accused of corruption had sent an official testimonial to the Board that Anoleis was skimming funds himself!...Synthetic Insights actually had quite the handful this time around. Their busiest week, easily. And responsible for probably one of the most entertaining meetings I've watched since I got here. The only other time I found that riveting was when they dealt with that whole Van Allen debacle. Sentient beltwear. Ha! Hilarious.

But yeah...they did mention Peak 15 at the very end. Which is what you were looking for right? I marked the time in my notes...I think they start discussing it at 17:58:29. Anyway, hope you find what you're looking for pal.

PS, by the way...think you can put in a good word with the Broker for me? I really hate this job. The worst one I've had, easily.

...PPS ...think you could spare a few chits while you're at it? My subscription to Fornax just ran out. It was the low point of my week. Easily.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**"Did...did this story update?"**

**"What? I thought this story was finished months ago."**

**"No, no. It went on hiatus when the author got a message to cease and desist from Bioware."**

**"Are you sure?"**

**"I wouldn't know. I stopped reading it after the third chapter. The writing was just atrocious."**

**"I don't know, I always thought the author was kind of witty. And they sounded really handsome too."**

**"I heard the author quit fanfiction altogether after someone emailed him a death threat with his portrayal of Asari courting habits."**

**"I heard the author abandoned this story like 70% of all fanfic writers do once they get bored."**

**"What was this even about again? A GarrusxConradxShepardxSovereign ship?"**

**"I heard the author died in a tragic clowning accident."**

**Wrong, wrong, and wrong you wily rascals. I'm still very much alive (despite the lack of evidence contrary), and like it or not, still plan on finishing this piece of garbage. Call me a dreamer, but I was never one to quit while I was ahead. And since I'm really behind, I _really_ can't quit now. So much time has passed though, so much has happened. The entire Summer and Fall of 2015 gone. Lost forever in the annals of history. What did I do? Where have I been? Such mysteries will forever go unanswered.**

**"You sat on your ass and diddled yourself all day-"**

**"SHUT UP DAN-"**

**Ahem. Anyway. While it might be awhile til the next chapter, as I do need time to get back my groove, I hope you guys have had a swell 2015 yourselves and look forward to seeing what the wily Marauder Shield gets up to next after this long hiatus!**

**And since it is FUN FACT FRIDAY, I'll leave you guys with this enlightening bit of information:**

**Fun Fact** \- 'Black Friday' was named so for an annual custom performed by the pilgrims of Plymouth Rock after each Thanksgiving dinner. After the feast, each pilgrim would return to their cabins and dab various paints, dyes, and tar (usually tar) on their faces in an attempt to conceal their features. Then afterwards, they would come out of their homes in a tasteful 'black' face in an attempt to scare the local Native Americans off their land. Suffice to say, the Native Americans were quite accepting of different cultures and didn't fall for it. Black Friday was NOT named so for the rumor that slaves in America were commonly sold on this day. That's abhorrent, ignorant, and utterly racist. And Black Friday was ESPECIALLY NOT named so for retailers making their profit during the holiday season, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. The 'theory' of this being that profit recorded would be used with red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts (which was common practice). Black Friday, under this 'theory', is the beginning of the period when retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black). Simply outrageous.

**"...Hm. Whatever. I only read this when I'm waiting for a new _Surviving a World of Fiction_ by Trebor or _Reduced Mass_ chapter. Or hell, one of Lanilen's _My Effect_ series updates. And I mean...I usually have to be PRET-TY bored."**

**"Yeah, did you see the word count for this thing? The author's not even at Feros yet and it's almost over 200k...what a load of shit."**

**OH YEAH DAN?! ...well...uh...**

***Sobs in corner***

* * *

**In the Next Chapter: Uh...do you two need a room?**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	33. The Commander's Code

She found herself staring at the cold metal floor in response.

The last of them were still taking their seats in the conference room when Ashley had asked the question.

"What's our next move Commander? Head for the Mu Relay?"

She was in no mood for a debriefing. Not after everything that had just happened. But everyone was already waiting for their next order, what the Normandy's next course of action would be. She let out a sigh of annoyance. "There's no point," Shepard decided to reply flatly. "The Mu Relay could link to dozens of systems. Unless we know exactly where Saren's going, we'd just be wasting our time." Which was true. They were no closer to knowing where he was or what he was after.

"The Commander is right," Liara agreed obsequiously. "We cannot rush off blind. We still need to learn more about Saren."

"Who put you in charge?" Ashley quickly retorted while leaning back in her chair, putting her elbow on its headrest. "Did the Commander resign when I wasn't looking?"

Shepard shut her eyes in annoyance. All this time spent together aboard the ship and she still had to deal with this petty schoolyard bullshit. She slowly re-opened them and stared daggers at the chief, deciding to stop this exchange before it had a chance to escalate. She then turned to address Liara first. "I give the orders around here. Not you. Understood?"

"Forgive me Commander. I was only trying to help," Liara replied embarrassed.

"And this is what we're here to do Williams," Shepard said next, now staring back at the marine. "Discuss our next course of action. Do you not agree with Doctor T'Soni that we'd just be wasting our time if we went through the Mu Relay?"

"No sir," Ashley replied in a low voice.

"Alright then."

"Do you think what the Matriarch said was true?" Tali quickly asked, changing the subject. "About Saren's ship being able to control people?"

"Load of varren shit if you ask me," Wrex muttered angrily.

"I was actually thinking about that. What if Saren's ship was made by the Protheans?" Ashley now proposed. "That beacon gave your mind all those visions Shepard. Imagine what other things a ship of theirs could do."

"And why don't we think that Saren's ship wasn't just made by the Geth again?" Garrus asked.

"I didn't say it couldn't be," Ashley immediately bit back.

"When I saw the holos from Eden Prime, Saren's flagship didn't seem to be of Geth origin," Tali answered.

"In my studies, I've never come across any Prothean society that had developed or researched such technology either," Liara replied.

"I was just saying that the Protheans _could_ have made something that did what Benezia described. I didn't say that they actually did," Ashley responded again annoyed.

"Regardless, if Saren and his Geth had the tech to brainwash people, I don't think we'd currently be fighting them," Kaidan replied.

She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Everyone in the room turned to Shepard. "If it's not Geth. And if it's not Prothean. That only leaves one other possibility."

"The Reapers," Kaidan deducted.

"You really think they're out there huh?" Wrex replied.

Shepard met his gaze head-on. "They are."

"Commander, the visions you have had might have been interrupted before the beacon could finish. They might not be entirely accurate. If we...if you let me meld with you, I might be able to help you discern what you've seen."

"I know what I saw." Then she turned toward the rest. "If that's all, then we're done here. Until we get another update, we're setting course back for the Citadel. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Crew...dismissed!"

"Noveria report is away Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?" Joker came on over the intercom.

She sighed as the rest filed out one by one. "Patch them through Joker."

"Patching you through now Commander."

Several minutes later and the images of the dignitaries flashed over the room's projectors.

"Commander," Councilor Tevos began. "Do not cut me off like last time. I fail to find it amusing."

"Save the sermon. I'm just here to follow up on my report."

The Asari let out a sigh before beginning. "And is this report accurate Commander? You found _Rachni_ on Noveria?"

"We sure as hell didn't find any space cows." Despite their glares, Shepard followed up with, "We found some captured on a planet called Binthu too."

"Yes. Found them and apparently wiped them out!" Councilor Sparatus outburst. "Do you take pleasure from committing genocide Shepard?!"

Technically, it was xenocide. Or was to her anyway. But tomato, tomato. "Depends on the species," she casually replied. "...Turian."

"Commander! You are addressing a member of the Council. You _will_ show the proper respect!" the skullface replied furious.

She stared him dead in his beady little eyes as she subsequently opened her omni-tool. "Whoops," she said as she then brought a finger down on it, disconnecting them.

"Aaaaaand we're out," Joker confirmed for her.

She didn't hide her smirk as their images immediately petered out.

"You don't think that they'll hold that against all of us do you?" the lieutenant asked as soon as she had turned around.

Shepard crossed her arms and gave the LT a coy smile in response. "Don't want me to ruin your chances of becoming the _second _Human Spectre huh?" she replied. "You should have told me. I'd put in a good word for you."

"Would you?" he replied unconvinced.

"Yeah. Though I guess it wouldn't really matter once they actually saw you in action."

"Funny," he replied without laughing.

"What did you need?" she quickly asked as she walked past him.

"Uh...do you think you have some time to talk Commander?"

She stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "What are we doing now?"

"...fair enough," Kaidan replied approaching her. "It's just...I've been thinking about the Noveria mission. About what happened to the Rachni-"

"I was just about to go down to see him," she replied with a disdainful look.

_That bastard. Thought he could just-_

"It's not that," Kaidan replied softly. "It's...you had to make some tough calls to get this far. And it looks...it looks like there's going to be some more. I'm just saying...try to leave yourself a way out. I've seen what cutting corners can do and I'd hate to have that happen to you Shepard. Commander."

"How many times has that been now?" she asked. "I don't believe that's an appropriate way to address your commanding officer Lieutenant. I think someone's becoming a bit too familiar."

"Sorry ma'am," he replied stiffening. "I didn't realize you weren't- I thought- I mean if there's someone else you'd really- nevermind," he sputtered.

"What the hell are you going on about now Alenko," she now replied bluntly, dropping the playful tone.

"Well...I didn't think it was true but...I heard a lower-deck rumor that Doctor T'Soni is...uh...interested in you. As more than a source of Prothean data. And that you-I mean, it's none of my-"

"Are you pulling my leg right now Kaidan?" Shepard said guffawing, a slip of hair falling over her face.

"No Commander. I mean, she's a very interesting lady. Not to my, uh, tastes. I never claimed to be big on alien culture...though I guess she is-"

"Stop." He shut up. Then she raised an eyebrow and the corner of her lips twitched. "You seem to be getting awfully worried about my personal affairs Lieutenant."

"Well it's just that-" He rubbed the back of his neck. "With how busy everyone's been, we don't really have much downtime these days. And I know I've been taking up a lot more of your personal time than I've been meaning to-"

"Look, I'm guessing you didn't want to just gossip with me about Doctor T'Soni, did you?"

"Uh, no-"

"Then what's your real issue?"

"You're right. Sorry. It wasn't- I got off topic. Liara's not my concern." The man's face grew solemn. "I'm not questioning any decisions you've made, Shepard." That comment caused her own face to stiffen. "Let me be clear about that. It's just my experience that once someone lets something slide, it tends to pick up speed...you get my meaning?"

"Alenko, if you have one weakness, it's an inability to speak directly."

"Sorry. I'm not looking to dump any baggage Shepard. You know about the biotic training that happened out on Jump Zero right?" Alenko looked to his side. The only thing there was the ship's steel walls. "They're all classified. Because the Alliance made mistakes."

"Do you consider yourself a mistake?" she asked.

"If we were going by my teacher's standards, yes," he replied. "But it's not about me. After first contact, Conatix was set up to track element zero exposures and develop implants for Humans. Once we had an embassy on the Citadel, Conatix could bring in 'experts' instead of taking it slow."

"I remember. Commander Vyrnnus. Brain Camp. Rahna. If I recall correctly, you said that 'you'd either come out a superman or a wreck.' And most the latter."

"Right," he said seriously. "The point of bringing it up I guess...is that when you cut corners, it's not always obvious who pays for it."

Shepard grew irate. "So why are you telling me all this? Are you saying I'm cutting corners somewhere?"

"I'm saying..." he took a moment to compose himself. "It's probably inevitable that we'll have to. And when that happens, I want to help you. We're marines. We stick together. When someone important to you is up on a ledge, you help them. Keep them from mistakes better made by a kid."

Her mood considerably brightened upon hearing the word. "Important, huh?"

"If I'm out of line, just say the word."

But they both knew he wasn't. "You're not. But there are regs for a reason Kaidan."

His lips visibly fought back a smile. "I get you Shepard. That's exactly why I didn't ask you at first, I- I wouldn't want to complicate the chain of command. Just...think about what I said."

"Noted," she said wistfully. "Anything else?"

This time, he took some time before answering. "I guess I do want to add...killing Saren's...what was Benezia anyway? Second-in-command? Advisor? Anyway, I know we didn't exactly get any closer to finding him, but it should at least set him back a bit. And on wherever he was planning to go." He scratched his chin. "Back on the topic of Doctor T'Soni though...I'm sure she's hurting. Poor kid...having to kill your own mom...not something anyone should have to go through."

Memories and doubts better left unsaid suddenly crossed Shepard's mind. "I was already planning to pay her visit while I was down in the med bay." She looked off to the side as the events replayed themselves in her mind. Kaidan seemed to notice something was wrong and was about to ask before she quickly deflected his attention to something else. "...so." She raised an eyebrow at him. "...is Liara really...?"

"Uh talk to you later Commander," Kaidan quickly replied, already walking away at a brisk pace.

* * *

A groan escaped my lips as I begun to wake. My head rolled to one side of the pillow, then the other. My vision was blurry, my mouth was dry, and the horrible throbbing going on in my skull did little to help. When I tried to lift a hand to massage it however, I found to my surprise that it was being held down by someone. Straining my eyes to see, I found none other than Dr. Chakwas come into focus above me.

"Finally awake I see."

I groaned again. "Mmmmm...what happened...?"

"I'm beginning to think you're doing this on purpose," the doctor remarked. "What is this now? The fourth time I've found you unresponsive in my care? All this head trauma and you'll end up duller than an Elcor Mister Shield."

As my senses finally began to return, I decided that I was in the med bay. On one of the beds near Liara's office. Chakwas was sitting next to me on a stool, attending to-

I stifled a gasp. My hand.

"I'm sorry," she added, noticing what I had just seen. My hand. My poor, left hand. The half-fingers that had burnt off from the Thresher's acid were down to nubs now. I failed to hide my horror staring at it.

"What-"

"I'm sorry, but the damage done to your hand was quite severe. There was an enormous amount of nerve damage done to what remained, and there was already a build-up of necrotic flesh around the wound, resulting from whatever caustic enzymes were present in that creature's bile. I had to cut away most of the infected area before I could actually treat it."

"Jesus..." I whispered to myself.

"It's not as bad as you might think," Chakwas confided me. "Prosthetics have come a far way in the last decade. I can put you in contact with an Alliance provider for veterans that has a wide-"

"If I got one doc...do you think that I could still fight?" I asked groggily. "Uh...or shoot a gun I mean?"

The doctor looked back up with a hint of sadness in her eyes. Then the conversation from the room adjacent to us started to leak into the med bay. I had planned from the very start to try to be the first one to console Liara about her mother. I didn't think any of the other crew members were exactly the empathetic type save for Tali, and Liara would definitely need someone to help her after the events of today. But...it seemed Shepard had already beat me to the punch. And then some apparently.

"-wanted to know more about you. To understand what made you into the woman you are. There is something compelling about you Shepard."

_Dear god...why doesn't a top-secret military space vessel have sound-proof walls..._

Dr. Chakwas glanced at me awkwardly. "I believe I need to check something. I'll be right back," she lied while getting up. The conversation from the other room continued to leak in. And the voices were steadily rising.

"Don't try to justify this. You're just obsessed!"

"Obssessed? All I did was look up some information from the extranet! I would hardly call that an obsession!"

I was technically guilty of that too. Though I didn't exactly spend months searching for Shepard's body after her death.

_Because when it comes to Shepard Liara, you are VERY obsessed...with Shepard._

I quickly grew uncomfortable as their conversation continued.

"I apologize if I offended you Commander. But you had better get used to this kind of attention. You are the very first Human Spectre. Many will be watching your every action!"

After a short pause, I heard Shepard eventually sigh and apologize. "...you're right. I'm sorry. I guess I might have overreacted." I sighed as well.

_Well. Maybe I was wrong. I guess-_

"Though your instincts were not completely wrong Commander."

_Aaaand of course._

"I did feel some attraction to you. But I was not sure if it would be appropriate to let it grow into something more..." I cleared my throat. "I thought there might already be a relationship. Between you and Lieutenant Alenko."

I coughed again. A little louder this time.

"You want a relationship with me? ...even though we're both women."

"We Asari are mono-gendered, Commander. 'Male' and 'Female' do not have any real meaning for us. We do however have maternal instincts. So perhaps we would fill what you consider a female role."

_Liara. Mono-gendered is not asexual. It means you still have one gender. And that gender is female. _

But. Regardless. "Cough."

"I'm sorry if this is awkward for you Shepard. I'm only trying to be honest. I feel as if we share some type of...connection. But none of this matters if you are already involved in a serious relationship with Lieutenant Alenko-"

"COUGH."

And finally...silence. Sweet, sweet, blissful silence. A large lull came this time around in their conversation. And then the door to Liara's office suddenly slid open, revealing Shepard, whose face was almost as red as her hair.

"Oh...hey Shepard."

A scowl immediately came across her face. "How long have you been awake?"

"Um...couldn't have been more than a minute," I said while scratching my head and breaking eye contact with her. Though I did happen to notice out of my peripheries that she was looking toward the med-bay doors now.

"Where's Chakwas?"

"Left to...get something. I guess. Didn't really tell me what," I replied sheepishly.

Then Shepard turned her head over her shoulder to the Asari behind her. "Liara, do you think you could shelve our conversation for a later date? I need some time to speak with Shield. Alone."

"Of course Commander," Liara said bobbing her head. She then hurried out of the med-bay with a bright violet hue across her cheeks. Suffice to say, I could clearly tell she was embarrassed. I waited sometime after Liara left though for Shepard to speak. But instead of telling me whatever she had to say, there she simply stood, at the end of my bed, silent. It was only right when I decided to take it upon myself to speak that she interrupted me.

"Why did you do it?"

I glanced to my left, then I glanced to my right. And then I retrained my eyes back on the red-headed woman standing over me. "Why did Iiiii...?"

"Don't get coy with me," she barked, already starting to channel her inner Bruce Banner. "You released the Rachni. Why."

My mouth formed an O.

"I didn't meant to!" I immediately spurted. "It was an accident, Shepard, honest to god, I didn't mean to, I-"

"Don't lie to me Shield!" she suddenly snapped, towering over the foot of my bed.

"I was just trying to help. I-that thing was attacking you and-"

"_WHY_!?"

I winced as she shouted at me, utterly failing to hide the fear in my eyes I'm sure. For the umpteenth time, I realized how very scary the woman in front of me actually was. In that singular moment, I actually contemplated pretending to faint so that she would just leave me be. Or, hoped that someone would suddenly barge in and distract her with news of a new UNC mission. Or maybe that I could even distract her myself, tell her something that would necessitate her immediate attention. Like how she currently needed to wax her lip.

But in truth, none of those were ever really possibilities. The only real option that was left...was to grow some balls and just tell the truth. For once at least. I honestly didn't know which button would have killed the giant bug or which would have released it when I pressed the purple one...but I was set on which I wanted to do. "...I..." I took a breath, then exhaled slowly and hardened my face. "The Rachni needed to live Shepard."

"You sonuva bitch," she immediately cursed, pushing off the foot of the bed to put some distance between us.

"Hey! The Reapers are out there _Commander_!" I said propping myself up in response. "Of all people I'd thought you'd know that. The Beacon. The Geth. Saren. The Reapers are coming back! And we're going to need _everyone's _help to stop them, Rachni included! Every race, eve-"

"The Reapers WON'T come back if we stop Saren," she cut me off simply wrathful. And as I began to protest, she added, "And even if they did Shield, I know for a FACT that the Rachni wouldn't help."

"Wha...we talked to them Shepard! You saw that they're intelligent beings that-"

"No. They _were_."

I felt my stomach suddenly contort. "...what do you mean, _were_?"

"We killed the queen before it escaped-"

And I like to think that it was this, that it was at this precise moment that it all finally donned on me. I had brief epiphanies every now and then after some of our 'adventures'...but to be honest those never really lasted longer than an hour. It was at this exact moment that it all_ really_ finally clicked for me. After all the misspoken words. All the missteps. All the mishaps. After all the mistakes made. After all the misery. It took a rough month for me to finally take the wool off of my eyes, get out of my sad, vain, little fantasy world - my self-serving, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, self-delusions of grandeur.

But I did it. I now thankfully knew that I was no action hero. Nor was I the indispensable fount of knowledge that I imagined myself to be for the Normandy. I wasn't an inspector, nor a soldier, nor some triple agent working for the Shadow Broker. I wasn't even the main character in whatever lame, half-assed work of fiction I had found myself in. Suffice to say, I finally came to terms with myself that I was a failure.

I was real fucking bad at Mass Effect. And I might have laughed if it wasn't so pathetic.

"-They're gone."

"You-I thought-" I now began to sputter, "-I thought that you said that I released it-"

"Yeah, and we set off the lab's failsafe as soon as you did. We heated the labs and Peak 15 sunk several hundred feet into the ice before it could escape."

"But-"

"We barely got everyone out alive," Shepard finished turning to face the wall behind her, hands on her hips. "But we did it. No thanks to you."

Although dejected...I guess should at least feel some sort of relief of waking up on the Normandy. 'We barely got everyone out alive' apparently still included the traitor laying before her. I fell back down into my sheets and rested my head on the bed's backboard. After a long silence, Shepard turned back around to face me.

"Back when you were in that airlock...you told me you wanted to stop Saren." An unmistakable fire burned in her eyes. "And then you released the very thing he wanted to build an army with! So don't fucking tell me again that you're doing all this for the 'good of humanity'! To stop the Geth! Or the _Reapers._ Like you even believe that," she spat with hate. "You fuck. I don't know whether you're stupider for thinking that you could manipulate me into doing what you wanted or if you thought you could get away with whatever you wanted to pull...you might _not_ be working for Saren...but you certainly didn't release that monster for our sakes. So you ARE going to tell me who you actually work for, and why the hell you did it." Shepard stared at me as if she was daring me to pull the same shit I had before.

"Give it a fucking rest already!" I had almost shouted back. Because honest to god, the whole shtick was getting real fucking old. Almost as old as the Leviathans at this point. "I don't work for ANYONE Shepard," I wanted to shout back after that accusation. "Yeah, I don't work for Saren. And I don't work for the Shadow Broker either. Nor do I work for Cerberus. Or the Alliance, or the Hegemony, the Hierarchy, the STG, the Primacy, or even that asshole Conrad fucking Verner! In fact, I don't even work for my own god damn self!" Which was true. Everything I did seemed to just explode right back into my face.

_Phrasing. _

"BULLSHIT!" she would then shout back, causing me to wince. "If you're not an agent of so and so, then tell me why you're here doing this or that then! What other conceivable reasons and/or purpose could you possibly have to be present on this ship!?"

And as she asked that, I would just stare her right back in the eyes and repeat myself. "Like. I. Said. Be. Fore. To stop Saren." And then it would all just go on and on, only stopping once I fed her another lie or misdirection, resulting in me just digging myself deeper and deeper and deeper in. I was just tired at this point. Oh so tired.

After a long silence, I just ended up asking her, "What's the point of all this?" Because I honestly didn't know at this point. Every interaction we had reminded me of a broken record. They were monotonous. Something that was going nowhere new.

With how dismissive my reply sounded, I half assumed she would have flown into a blind rage and bash my head in against the bed's backboard. But instead...the Commander surprisingly just stared back at me with a blank gaze, one that almost seemed as tired as my own. "...Do you remember the conversation we had after X57? When you asked me why I let you aboard the Normandy?"

My lack of response prompted her to continue. "...after all those times I made it clear to you where you stand? I think I told you then it was because of Captain Anderson. How he overvalued your importance." There was a slight waver in her tone as she spoke now. "I realized afterwards that was a lie. I could have thrown you off the Normandy any point between then and now. But I didn't. And so you actually had me asking myself now...'why'?" She mouthed the word silently. "And you know what I realized?" She affixed her eyes back on me. "The reason I let you overstay you're welcome was because of Therum."

I laid there with my mouth probably ajar in response.

"The only absolute thing that keeps order in this galaxy are laws. Laws lead to societies, and these function on principles," she now continued in an even voice after a brief pause. "Traits of merit. Things like honesty, loyalty, and duty. Doing what's just. What's fair. Things of which you know nothing." I looked away as she spoke. "But I do. Back on Therum, you stopped that krogan's charge. And then there was the cave-in. And then..." She trailed off, as both of us knew what the last one was. "I owed you for those," she finished. "It was only_ fair_ that I gave you a chance to prove yourself in return. To show that you could be trusted. Then I find out you lied about Cerberus."

"I didn't lie," I meekly replied.

"I view deliberately withholding information as the same. They both mislead the person you're talking to and only suits your own personal agenda. You knew more then you let on and didn't tell us. Which could have saved Kahoku's life."

I looked down coldly at the bed sheets.

"And then came the call after we raided Cerberus." I glanced back up to see she now had true disgust on her face. "You lied about working for the Alliance, and then after we gave you a clean slate, you lied about who you were again. After all that time, we still had no idea who you were. What your motives were, who you were working for." Her fists curled up into balls. "I almost spaced you after the Shadow Broker told us."

"...but-"

"And don't think for a second I bought that bullshit story," she continued. "The only reason you stayed aboard was because of what you said before that...what you said about Saren."

"It was true," I whispered.

"I forgave you once for the lie about Cerberus, even though it cost the Admiral and his marines their lives. Then I forgave you when you lied about working for the Shadow Broker, because I idiotically believed that you might have cared about bringing justice to the bastard we're chasing. But...then came Noveria..."

The events were still fresh in both our minds.

"That's three times I forgave you," Shepard replied. "One for each time you..." She tapered off again. But she quickly recomposed herself before I could speak. "I don't owe you anything anymore. I gave you a chance to prove yourself. And you proved exactly the type of person you are. A fabulist. Someone with no morals. Someone we can't trust."

Trust. That's what needed for a mission to succeed. What she had said last time we met like this.

"Right now we're headed for the Citadel. Once we've relayed our progress and finish restocking the ship there, we'll return to hunting Saren in the Traverse." I didn't need to hear the words that came next. I already knew. "Without you." She turned away and made for the door.

Fair enough I thought while laying back down on my bed, eyes shutting close. I was too tired to do anything else.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**SSV Normandy Flight Trajectory**

"According to their current vector, and with the verification I got from Revenant...they're not heading toward the Feros colony like you predicted Gellix. Not yet anyway."

"Hm?"

"It looks like they're headed towards the Widow Relay."

"I knew it. I was already calling in who we had there."

"Oh, always have to be one step ahead don't you? Looks like you can take it easy then, should be awhile before they're finished doing whatever-"

"Keep your eyes on the navigation chart Rok."

"Alright, alright. Jeez. Just saying...wouldn't hurt for us to take a break once in awhile. Or at least give me one. My pads ache from all the flying around."

"We're on the Shadow Broker's dime. We can't afford to take breaks...Patch me into a buoy. I need to contact Majoris."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**HA, GOTCHA! I got you guys so good. 'I****t might be awhile til the next chapter.' You should have seen the looks on your faces! "There's TWO updates?! What the heck!? Stache told us we had to wait." Hahaha, ohhhh gold.**

**"...we get alerts for every new chapter that comes out. And if that was missed, we would have seen it scrolling down to pick the last one dumbass."**

**Uh, yeah...right! Next you'll be telling me that there are also an abundance of spelling mistakes in the above. Psshh. Nice try Dan.**

**But back on topic...HOO BOY, Shield's finally been cut loose! Bad move Shepard! What's to stop him from going apeshit on Saren's ass now?! What will he do to achieve this though? To what lengths will he go?! Will he ever stop!? Even I don't know! Hell, Shield might even just pack up his things and tell the Milky Way to suck it! Have at it Reapers! Andromeda's apparently where it's at now. We might even see him as the franchise's next protagonist! Oh the possibilities! The mystery! The intrigue! Only time will tell what happens to our wayward traveler now!**

**Prepare yourselves, for this concludes Act Two of A Hero Made: Traversing the Traverse! It's now time for the story's transition into penultimate Act Three: Leaving the Lie.**

**And since it is still Fun Fact Friday:**

**Fun Fact - **Did you know the desert planet that was featured in the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' trailer is not actually Tatooine, but in fact, a planet named Jakku? And that wHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?! Tatooine was such a pivotal and memorable piece of the Star Wars Saga! It's featured in almost every Star Wars anthology series to date and is the location that the two most central characters to the plot grew up in! We all know Rey's going to be Luke's daughter or niece or long lost cousin twice removed or something so why the hell is she not growing up on Tatooine?! Yeah, sure, there's like a billion other planets in the galaxy, but if you're going to choose a backwater desert planet that's bumfuck nowhere as one of the settings, why wouldn't it be Tatooine?! Oh god the humanity. Did we really need to add another one to the list?! I can only handle so many sand planets! I HATE sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere! Why JJ whyyyyy-

* * *

**In the Next Chapter: ...alll byyy myyyyyyyselllllf...don't wanna be...alllll byyy myyysellllllf~**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	34. Qualm with a Quarian Quarry

A beautiful, bright, brand new day. Millions across the Citadel were beginning their mornings, saying goodbye to their families, heading out their apartment doors, and getting into their skycars to fly off to work. For those walking the streets below, strong scents of smoked meat and exotic cuisines from street vendors everywhere wafted through the air, the light-hearted laughter of children skipping school could be heard throughout the thoroughfare, and C-Sec officers clad in black and blue stood in plain sight, maintaining a watchful eye over it all.

Blast them all I thought as I couldn't stand any of it, deciding to instead spend the last four hours of my day inside a sleazy dive bar. It wasn't as bad as the Mos Eisley cantina or anything, but it definitely fell short of the pristine club ran by Doran, the one that I think was called Flux. Though the bar was small, dark, dank, and dirty, the one upside to it was that the bartender didn't seem to mind that I had been nursing the current drink in front of me for the last hour and a half. Though honestly, she probably just appreciated that there was anyone here at all. Despite it probably only being noon, the bar probably didn't get that many visitors, regardless of time, probably because of how shoddy and rundown it looked. Probably.

Tequila se'lai. With a final swig, I finished the bitter beer in front of me and sat the bottle back down on the counter. If there was one thing in the future that I was glad never changed...it was alcohol. The female Turian gave me what I believed to be a smile as she took it from me. "Anything else?"

In return, I looked up sluggardly and asked for a, "...tasty tankard?" The beers I had already had were some cheap imitation ethanol brewed by Batarians, and quite honestly, tasted like a Pabst filtered with piss then left in the sun to skunk before being spit in. And they left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. Though they were cheap...I could no longer take it and now decided I was in the mood for something a little more...palatable.

Regardless of reason, she looked at me bemused, and after giving a slight nod, got to work. I put my head back down on the counter as she did. I don't know how many drinks I had already had...but the answer was probably too many. I honestly didn't even know if I could pay for this next drink. I didn't have more than a couple hundred credits on my tool, and my tab was definitely getting a little out of hand. I placed my arm down in front of me, and then buried my head into the crook of my elbow. The sleeve's fabric felt nice and warm.

After I was kicked off the ship, this cloth sleeve was one of the few things I could take comfort in still having.

The Janissary armor? Gone.

The Onyx armor from Eden Prime? Gone.

The Lancer Ashley had given me on Noveria? Gone.

The only things left on my person were my shitty omni-tool and my shitty gun, the only one in this shitty Galaxy that could currently run out of ammo. Those things and the crew uniform Kaidan had lent me earlier. Though it was technically also Alliance property, Shepard had at least begrudgingly left me that, as I would have otherwise left the ship in my birthday suit. They were sure to remove the Alliance insignia before I did though, so now it just looked like a plain blue and black jumpsuit. It didn't look exactly fashionable. But then again, neither did anyone else. Not to me anyway.

The bartender I believed to be named Suris suddenly slid a drink in front of me with a toothy grin. "Sorry if I didn't get it quite right," the Turian said teasingly. "This might be the first time I've ever been asked to serve one here." I gave back a pathetic frown in response. "Hey, ain't nothing wrong with a fella wanting something a little sweet every now and then," she said with a wink.

The pale-skinned turian then waltzed away to the other end of the bar, to serve a destitute Hanar who had apparently just lost its mate after it had lost all their money gambling. That poor, big, stupid jellyfish. I looked back down to stare into the eyes of the abomination currently sitting below my face. Half of the drink seemed to be made of whip cream, no doubt a joke on my bartender's part. But the joke was on her in the end because I love cream.

As I mulled over how hilarious my in your end-o was, I now looked back up to the many other-wordly drinks shelved across from me. There were dozens upon dozens of bottles stacked there, blue, green, red and colors indescribably alien, all scrawled with gibberish languages, their numbers utterly legion, which I kind of found surprising with how small the bar was. The sight was quite aweing to be honest.

The most common drinks on it appeared to be an assorted collection of 'Batarian shard wines', Asari honey meads, bottles of pale green liquid labelled 'Elasa, Sorrow's Companion', and something cleverly named 'Thessiangria' which was apparently the Asari's 'UNIQUE TAKE ON THE EARTH-BASED ALCHOLIC BEVERAGE ORIGINATING FROM THE HUMAN HOME-WORD REGION OF SPAIN NAMED SANGRIA WHERE WHICH IT IS MADE FROM VARIOUS FERMENTED FRUITS'. I mean...the font for the drink's label was ridiculously big. While I'd say that was poor marketing, I did just read the entirety of the label. Among these drinks were still a large variety of others, including but not limited to: Turian brandies, Salarian rums, Batarian 'vodka', Elcor 'brunswech' whatever the hell that was, one jar containing Hanar mindfish, and an inordinate amount of different Human liqueurs. Incidentally, that seemed to be our biggest contribution to the interstellar alcohol scene.

I lowered my hand and omni-tool after I had finished reading most of the translated tags. With a sigh, I then took another glance around me. The bar was still dead, my bartender still busy with other affairs, and I found myself for the first time...getting bored. Which I guess was a good thing since I was no longer moping on the fact that I had just been kicked off the Normandy, and how it all could have been avoided.

_Could have told the truth from the beginning. Not tell them that I was from a different universe or anything...but that I just had no idea who I really was. I mean, still convey that I knew that Saren was a mad man and had to be stopped...but I could have been quiet on everything else. But...hm. Every time we returned to the Citadel, I could have ditched the others and then returned to the ship right when they were about to leave, telling them that I had 'learned' things around the station. Dammit. Probably would have been suspicious, but better than just downright lying...heh. I could have socialized with the crew more too._ _Say what they wanted to hear, give them various anecdotes that were similar to events in their own lives, gifts, compliments, etcetera, etcetera. It might feel a little dirty since I already know most of their personal history but...I guess that's why I didn't. Shit. I could have also not disagreed with every decision Shepard ever made._...

_What the hell. How did I fuck everything up?_

I shook my head when I realized I was doing it again. I already spent countless hours thinking about 'what if'. With a pathetic groan, I pushed away the empty drink and decided to get up. "Think I could pay my tab?" I asked across the room. "Sure!" Suris said to me as she rushed back to take the credit chit out of my hand. Several minutes later, I signed the electronic bill, burned the chit, steadied myself with a nearby chair, and headed for the door.

"Don't be a stranger!" she called out after me.

As soon as the door before me slid open, I was immediately blinded. Blinking furiously as I stumbled out of the hole in the wall, the noise, sights and smells of Kithoi Ward immediately began to assault my senses.

Kithoi Ward. The Ward of Mass Effect 1. Apparently. Chora's Den, Flux, C-Sec HQ. They were all just an hour's walk away. Or a several minute sky car ride. I assumed that's what I used to get here, because I had no other clue on how I would have made it out to these boondocks otherwise. I could barely make out the Citadel tower in the distance.

I stood there blinking, taking several more minutes for my eyes to fully readjust to the dimly lit street stretching out before me. With another groan, and still blinded by light, I staggered into the massive throng of Citadelians already on it. The street had definitely changed since morning.

There was almost too much to take in as my sight gradually began to return. Every alien species you could imagine seeing on the Citadel passed me by, all of differing heights, colors, weights, and general appearances. A whitish indigo Hanar held hands/tentacles with a small teal asari child on my left. A gang of sketchy looking human teenagers eyed people suspiciously from an alley not too far ahead. Two light-green salarians of middling height were arguing with a tiny, hissing vorcha in front of a shop, and a large ruby-crested Krogan shoved what seemed to be armadillos down his mouth in front of a skittish, young looking Quarian with a dull brown suit. There was even a band of street-performing humans in elaborate costumes and make-up juggling balls in the center of the street.

Just like on Earth, they were largely ignored. Despite being again overwhelmed by the sights, I began walking down the street, and as logic would dictate, suddenly found myself bumping into the person in front of me. Before I could apologize, the grey Salarian's eyes went bulbous and I closed my eyes, quite expecting a punch to the face. But bizarrely, I quickly found myself being pushed inside an establishment instead, with him saying, "You see, you want, you buy, yes?!"

Before I knew what was happening next, the door slid close behind me, and I found myself in a dark room filled with dozens of shelves, each covered with an assortment of knick-knacks. Another Salarian wearing what appeared to be an orange DBZ scouter then began talking to me from behind the shop's counter across the room.

"Ah, is that military-grade hardware I see?"

I took a sluggard look around, only to find the rest of the room empty. "Uh...me?" I gestured with a finger.

"Yes, you!" the grey Salarian replied beckoning me closer. "That's an Alliance-issued blue-wire model isn't it?"

I looked down at my arm and then back up. "You...know what model this omni-tool is?" Then I looked back down at my sleeved arm and back up. "...you can see my omni-tool?"

"Delumcore Eye," the Salarian said tapping his eye-piece. "Analyzes tools, even when their running silent! A must for my trade."

"And, uh...what trade is that?" I mumbled nervously, now looking around the shop at the various boxes shelved above me for clues.

"Why, the 'tool trade of course!" he replied enthusiastically. "This is THE original Omir's Omni-tool Office!"

"...Omir's what-"

"And YES, that is CORRECT, your eyes do not deceive you! You are currently looking at none other than THE Omir himself! My office is the only place one need go to obtain an otherworldly replacement for your old, obsolete 'tool. What can I do for you army?"

"Uhhh..."

"And trust me when I say I get customers from the military all the time! The blue-wire is _decent_ compared to the more standard models...if you don't mind the outrageous omni-gel conversion times." He laughed like that was a joke. Then he narrowed his eyes. "But you're looking for the real tools aren't you. The ones with customizable interfaces that most armed forces neglect to include. Ones with modulating thermal conductors!"

"Uh...not exactly," I murmured, finding my head now throbbing. I needed to find a place to sit down. I definitely had way too much to drink...

"Ah, so you're not here for a new tool. You're here for a new feature then yes?" Omir asked as he suddenly teleported beside me, stopping my body right as I began heading out of the store. With one graceful move, he whipped me back around towards the kiosk on his counter and began coaxing me there. While urging me forward, I found that the Salarian towering over me resembled a tall, lanky, nightmarish bog monster. It really didn't help my pounding head-ache.

"I, uh, duh...don't think I have-"

"Have the name of it? Don't worry, Omir promises we'll find it. What did you have in mind?"

"Uhhh..."

"We have the new scanning suite released by Cision Technologies!" he said aloud, scrambling to pull it up on the screen. "It's updated to now detect over fifty two newly discovered nadio signals imperative to intercepting military quantum communications!" Seeing the blank look on my face he continued on. "Alright then, what if I told you we had Ariake Technologies' ceramic fabricator LiteValloy! It now allows your 'tool to convert materials that are only comprised of about 60% industrial plastic to omni-gel!"

"I don't-"

"Okay, you drive a hard bargain, but I think I have what you want." He leaned uncomfortably close to my ear. "This is a secret, but we diiiiid just recently receive the _cutting_-edge Cipher Node. An application specifically designed to _cut _the time it takes to replicate an encryption algorithm in half! Vital to those who need to decrypt enigma-level cipher texts on the fly!" Then in a hushed voice, he added, "Extra-legal in some Citadel zones of space."

"Uhhh, I'm not-"

"A heat-synced medi-gel dispenser then? VI-weapon coordinating combat system? New-Wave defense drone. Sirta Sabotage suite. Retrofitted overload capacitor. Omni-blade. Figor Flash. Atmospheric analyzer-"

"No, no, I'm sorry, I can't do any of those, I-wait-"

"Flashlight. Camera. Music-"

"Wait, wait, wait. What was that last one?"

"Music? We have several-"

"No, no. A couple before that."

"An...atmospheric analyzer? Oh, uh, we actually _don't_ have any of those but-"

"No, I...did you mention you guys had an omni-blade or something-"

"Several!" Omir suddenly said loudly. I winced as he did. The Salarian wasted no time as he leaned back over his kiosk, and clicked several times before pulling up a bunch of different designs. "I see you have a very unique taste," Omir suddenly said now alarmingly behind me, pushing me closer to the kiosk while massaging my shoulders. "Not many have looked at our omni-blade models since the Alliance released the concept all those cycles ago. But they should!" he quickly added. "We have the best around! Plenty of choices to choose from. There is the first generation singular blade design released by Aldrin Labs for close combat situations...classic design...and there's also the...forked design patented by Hahne-Kedar. It conducts electrical currents through it's...and oh! There's the one that curves...very sleek...svelte form...and the...ah, yes, the classic blade that's sharpened to a point...and the one that's, uh, well...it's very abstract but the concept seems sound, I- definitely as practical as the rest." Then in an almost inaudible whisper, he added, "Disclaimer, seller cannot be held accountable for failure or misuse of product."

"Uh...what about that one," I asked ignoring him, pointing at the specific image of a long, orangish, two-pronged blade.

"Ahhhh, yes! Good choice," Omir suddenly purred next to my ear. He pulled the image up on the entire screen, which was accompanied by a bunch of indecipherable glyphs, and then leaned in incredibly close. "The _Verteron Prong_ is a...disposable, forked silicon-carbide blade...that is conveniently flash-forged directly by your omni-tool's...miniature fabricator. The transparent, diamond-hard blades are...suspended by mass effect fields safely away...from the user's skin. Ah, of course. Uh...Orange, warning lights illuminate the field around it so...the blade only sears the target intended. Warning. Capable of causing burns up to the third degree. Injuries may be fatal." He looked up from the screen. "We can change the lights."

Now...I have to admit...I had always wanted to use an omni-blade. Not during combat, as that would be stupid. If I was close enough to something that I was able to stab it, I'd probably already be dead. But in my free time, when I was all alone...it would be pretty awesome to pretend that I was swinging around a light-saber or something. Actually, I imagine it'd be really bad-ass. But, alas, it wasn't to be. Back when I tried to do this on the Normandy, I found out that omni-blades were a separate add-on feature for the standard...'_tool. _And where the hell would I go to get one?

But oh ho ho, look at me now. Here I was, alone on the Citadel, in an omni-tool shop of all places, one purchase away from actually having one in my hand. My throbbing head-ache dulled.

"How...how much would it cost?"

"It only costs...1,500 credits," Omir said closely peering at the screen.

_Damn._

"Oh. Uh...nevermind then," I replied quietly. And as my head-ache returned, so did all my worries.

_If I don't have enough credits for a...for omni...omni-tool things, how was...how was I going to...two afford an apartment room-food?! Or water? Underwear?! I'm going to have to find a job. I'm g-going to have to clean-clean-wipe...wipe down tables or something! I'm broke, I'm-_

"Oh wait, you...I forgot to mention your military discount!" Omir quickly said as I began to turn away.

"I don't...for...for how much?" I slurred.

"About 20%! That would put it at the low, low price of just 1,200 credits!" Then he saw the look on my face. "Oh, sorry, I forgot that this was the Serti-model. Let me just...ah, yes, it's really just 1,000 credits! 1,000! Great deal no? Erm...or uh...900?...850?...830...800...780-750-740-720-7...FIVE HUNDRED CREDITS." I frowned and shook my head. He frowned too. "...two hundred?"

My face immediately lightened up. "I have that!"

"Wonderful!" the Salarian immediately replied clapping his hands together. I immediately flash-forged a credit chit with my omni-tool and handed it to him. And several minutes later, just like that, he was installing a very, very, small chip into my 'tool. "And finished!" Omir said excitedly. "You, my friend, are now the proud owner of your own omni-blade!"

"Cool," I replied with a stupid grin on my face. Definitely not a mistake deciding to come in here. That was for sure.

"If you ever need help adjusting it, or possess more credits for a new feature, don't forget to come back to Omir's Omni-tool Office!" he called from behind his counter as I already made to leave.

"I won't!" I replied drunkenly, waving my omni-tool arm back at him as I stumbled out of his shop. Or tripped. I wasn't quite sure. All I knew was that I barely stopped myself from eating the pavement. Or polished ceramic floor. I didn't know what the hell this place was made of to be honest. Upon leaving the store however, I did notice one problem. I realized that I still had my credit chit clutched in my right hand. I held it out away from my face, wondering why I hadn't already de-fabricated it with my 'tool. They always said to melt it down after every use, so you don't lose it. Or so that someone doesn't-

"Pluck," a Quarian suddenly said, taking the chit out of my hand.

-steal it. "Oh shit," I murmured to myself as the alien suddenly disappeared into a throng of other aliens. "That's mine," I whispered.

_I should get it back. That was mine. It has the rest of my money imprinted on it. I should really get it back. I SHOULD REALLY GET IT BACK_.

"Oh shit," I now shouted as my eyes found the alien weaving in and out of the crowds. I immediately dove in after him. The small Quarian was like a cheetah, moving deftly around a small groups of Asari maidens, spinning out of the way of two Turians, sliding under the legs of a large Elcor. In comparison, I was more like a Krogan, barreling my way through everyone smaller than me, and blundering around those who weren't.

If anyone got an idea of what was currently happening, they didn't exactly seem to care. "Give me back my chit you thief!" I decided to yell as I chased him. Yup. Definitely didn't care. The thief didn't respond to my demands either, deciding to simply hop over an Asari hobo slumped on the ground instead. He then ducked into an alleyway further ahead on my right. "Oh no you don't," I rasped to myself as I soon ran into it right after him.

But it was at this point ol booze brain begun to how realize shape I was bad in. It wheezing with soon and began the slipping ended on cold with me the floor and the smell Quarian had gone was too much and garbage before that bin of bags collided and-

"God, oh g-uh," I gurgled as the pile of trash I bumped into began toppling over me. As the waste began cascading over me, with no clear end in sight, I knew I was done. Incoherent and utterly sure of an oncoming coma, I accepted my end. Let the rancid aromas of alien garbage wash over me. Let the contents of unworldly debris rain over my body. I didn't spit out what I imagined to be a Turian toe nail. This is where they would find my corpse. Surrounded by trash. Unwashed, unkempt. I puked a little bit.

"Let it all out," I said babying myself.

"Look vhat ve have here," a voice suddenly rang out.

"Nothing office-no. Uhm...you don't want this. I'm not drun-"

"Hand it over."

"But uh...you don't like trash. I know you don't...I'm not-"

"It's mine, fuck you," another voice said.

"But I thought I did...what?" I opened an eye. Then I opened the other. Utterly confused, I mustered the last of my strength and heroically shoved a moldy box off myself. And with that monumental task done, I propped myself up. Only to find nothing. No one. Nada. Which was puzzling because I could have sworn I-

"YOU LITTLE SHIT-"

I sighed as I realized I hadn't lost my mind. Or had I. The drunk in me didn't care as it gathered the last of my strength and got me up out of the trash pile. The voices were assuredly near. I just needed to...

"Hey...omni-gel," I muttered as I found a silverish-white residue lying on the ground.

"AGh!"

I lifted my head away from the paste in response. That was a cry of pain. In a state of delirium, I began shuffling toward the corner single-mindedly, toward the next alley way which would most definitely turn out to be more horrid than the last. And lo and behold, I was right. As I rounded the corner, I found none other than the Quarian that had stolen my chit, lord be praised. The little bitch. Curled up on the ground, moaning like a baby. I stared at him puzzled for a little bit before a huge boot came swinging at his midriff. I cringed as it got him good. Served him right. But not really I thought as another shoe found his helmet.

"Hey."

I followed the voice now, which seemed to be attached to the boot that had just kicked the kid. Unfortunately, it belonged to a scary-looking thug. One with a loose green shirt, seemingly over-sized cargo pants, and a nasty-looking mug covered with stubble and sandy brown hair. I took a step back in response. Only due to losing my balance of course but...I think I they might have thought otherwise. Him and the other four scoundrels standing across the alleyway from me sneered.

"Here," the thug said in what I now determined to be a thick Russian accent, tossing something through the air at me.

It hit me square in the face. And in the midst of their ensuing laughter, I looked down to find my credit chit of all things.

"You should be of more careful," the goon said. "Zese suit rats steal zings all zee time. If you don't vatch yourself, they'll steal zee clothes right off your back." Still staring a little longer than I meant to, he was prompted to add in a thick accent, "You are velcome."

"Uh...thanks," I replied, clumsily bending over to pick it back off the ground.

Then the kid made his move. Knocking over the thug who had a foot on top of him, the Quarian thrusted himself out from under the gang's gaze and made a beeline to get away. Up until another goon clotheslined him and threw him back into the center of the group. And then proceeded to start wailing on him.

"We've got zis freak," the man with the glazed look and stubble said as they continued to beat the ever living shit out of the kid. Though now that I took a second look...his face still seemed pretty youthful. The thug was actually a teenager by the looks of it. "No need to zank us." I meekly nodded and backed out of there. The scene was pretty gut-wrenching. Or maybe it just felt that way because of my stomach-

"BLARG-uff," I said as I vomited onto my feet a little more. "Mmm."

As I spat onto the ground, I knew something was off. I gave one last look over my shoulder toward the alley way I was leaving. The scene of five guys wailing mercilessly on a kid. "A thief more like," I muttered to myself, alone in the dark alley way. "They actually helped me," I added as I stared down at the chit in my right hand. Then I brought my left hand level with it, nubs and all.

Fuck was I pathetic.

I slowly dissolved the chit with my omni-tool. Then after a deep sigh...I turned around. They were racists ganging up on a defenseless kid. Or were they speciests? Ahhh, it didn't matter. It was five on one. They were beating the kid within an inch of his life. Probably with glee.

Though I really wish I didn't, I still had a conscious. I still had my humanity.

"Hey...cool it," I muttered weakly as they continued to kick at the Quarian curled up in a tight ball. Ignored, I tried again. "Hey...leave the kid alone." I grimaced as I suddenly felt another wave of nausea come. Hunched over, I was still wracked with problems of my own when I heard the crack. Looking up, I now found a distinct streak going down the Quarian's yellow visor. "Hey! ENOUGH!"

And then I puked. Whichever gained their attention, I don't know. All I did know was that I now had an audience of five angry Russians.

"Vhat?" one said to the side.

"Leave the...pick on someone your own size," I murmured while still heaved over.

"Ve stop zis criminal for you, gave you back your chit no?" the one with the stubble said again. "Vhat the hell do you vant?"

"To leave the fucking...oh god...just...just get the hell out of here," I said trembling now. The shakes were getting to me.

He looked at the guy beside him, and then to another. Then he let out a laugh. A very fake one I might add. "You don't mind your own fucking busi-ness, ve'll teach you to."

One thug took a step in my direction to scare me away. In response, ol' booze brain panicked. I pulled down my pants and whipped it out. And as I carefully handled the shaft, removing it from my tidy widies, looks of fear crossed their faces. But luckily for them, my fingers were deft enough to grab exactly what I wanted. Though it shook, I brandished my Predator in front of them, and the color in their faces drained further.

"Put zhat away, before ve-"

"On the...the count of three," I drunkenly murmured. "You're going to leave.

"You're going to throw away your life for zis alien-"

"Three." Two of the delinquents decided to skadaddle on out.

"Cowards!" he yelled after them as another went.

"Two."

"You don't know of vho you're messing with," he now told me with menace.

"Motty, he's insane-"

"You're fucking with ze Tenth Street Reds mother-"

"ONE!"

I fought back a barf. And with that motion, he and the last remaining gang member bolted. With gun still in outstretched hand, warily glancing in the direction they ran, I slowly trotted over to the unconscious quarian kid. His brown suit was crinkled, glass visor cracked, and the plastic/ceramic/whatever material it was made of was dented in some places. The crack was the most concerning, as I'm pretty sure the kid could catch something. Deadly in fact. Then, I suddenly barfed on him. I frowned after wiping my mouth but...I didn't really give a fuck at this point.

"You owe me," I whispered over the mess. Job well done I thought as I patted myself on the back. Who's the bigger man now? As I turned to leave though...I realized that I couldn't. Couldn't leave a battered kid covered in upchuck alone in an alleyway that is. That would be what they call 'a dick move'. As I stood back over him, ol' booze brain came up with one last brilliant idea for the day. With a grimace, I hefted him up over my shoulder (delicately), and with upchuck getting on my only set of clothes, I exited the alley way. A few feet later and I had already lost my strength. I was forced to drag his body across the street, a sight that probably alarmed many, as I made my way over to one of the Citadel's nearest automated transit systems.

* * *

**_Much, Much, Much Later._**

I couldn't help but feel giddy as electricity sparked from her tool. Her hands were extremely deft, conducting the operation with the utmost care as they worked their magic. A digit twitched as she soldered it again with her device. I now had a mechanical hand. Like Luke fuckin' Skywalker. I guess technically it was just a few fingers, but tomato, tomato. She had been working on them for a while now, and it'd be hard to miss my blatant amazement. Science had come quite a long way in the last century. Although I guess it would be almost absurd if it hadn't. As the device whirred, we almost didn't hear the groan over the sound. Almost. After quickly shutting it off, the doctor placed the tool down delicately, and then rolled her stool back over to his bedside.

"How are you feeling?" she asked the kid softly. She got another groan in response. "You're safe now. Don't worry." Her thick accent sounded Orlesian. Or French rather. Definitely French. At least France exists. You know you're losing it when you start wondering if someone's from a place of fiction. Although-

I grimaced as one of the digits on my left hand twitched on its own, peeling some of my skin back with the motion. Oh god, I wish I didn't see that. Peeling flesh is pretty gross. Especially your own. Jesus.

But I have to say, I am glad I'm here.

After getting into the Citadel' free taxi system, I punched in the rough coordinates of where I thought I needed to go. Dr. Michel's clinic. The kid looked in pretty rough shape, and I didn't really have anywhere else to turn. She helped Tali back when she was alone on her own, so the doctor knew enough about Quarian physiology to help. I hoped. And she seemed like someone who would leap at the chance to participate in something like Doctors without Borders. Someone who'd help those who couldn't afford it. So I typed in that I wanted to go to Chora's Den, and using my memory, dragged the unconscious mess back to her clinic.

And it seemed to be the right decision. Without a word, she got to work immediately upon my arrival, helping me get the Quarian kid to a bed and then examining each and every wound on his person. Internal bleeding? No problem as she stuck needles into several places inside his suit. Suit rupture? No problem either as she repaired what tears there were with something similar to omni or medi-gel. And after she was finished, she even took care of me. I passed out literally seconds after she had helped the kid, and woke up only to find her attention now focused on me. Without asking, she had hefted me up into another bed herself and gave me treatment. Threw my clothes in a wash. Put up a futuristic IV drip for my dehydration/hangover. And had even gotten fingers for my hand. Synthetic replacements for my poor, maimed hand. Only two were missing. Ring and middle. But...

I imagine they were expensive. Wouldn't think they were stuff you just have lying around. And they weren't. The doctor told me that as soon as she saw my hand, she had ordered these prosthesis for me in the 24 hours I was out, and gone to work on grafting them as soon as they arrived. Having a cute, red-headed doctor with a French accent who did all she could to help those in need fawning over me? Pretty nice reward for my good deeds I'd say.

I flinched as she pricked one of the cybernetic fingers again. "I apologize if that hurt, but we're almost done here."

"So...what did he say?" I asked after another moment of silence, save for the device's whirring. She had just been over there with him for quite a while.

"He was unfortunately still unconscious when I checked. I ran his suit diagnostics and took a few readings of his immune system while I was with him however. While he does have a fever, that's nothing unexpected. After he wakes up, I'll sure he'll be in good health," she said with a sigh of relief. "As long as he stays out of harm's way." Her eyes now narrowed in concern. "I don't mean to burden you...but if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could...escort him back home once he's awake?"

"You scared he might be messed with again?" I asked, looking back to his bed.

"Messed with? He was nearly killed!" she now said angrily. "The men who did that...they must have be utterly despicable to have done that to an innocent child."

"Yeah...they didn't exactly come across as saintly," I replied as I remembered the men, or kids that had done it rather. Though that group of delinquents did return my chit. They weren't thieves looking for a quick buck apparently. They were just...racists/speciests with misguided intentions? Some kind of neighborhood watch gone wrong? I thought to myself what that one named Motty said before he ran. What he had called them-

"But do you think you can? It would put my mind at ease if someone made sure he got home safely," Doctor Michel quickly asked again.

I grinded my teeth as she made one last adjustment and turned off her laser doohickey. "Yeah...sure. If he doesn't run off."

Following my eyes, the doctor spun around appalled. "Where do you think you are going?!" she scolded him as the Quarian now bolted for the exit of the clinic. Unfortunately, he found it locked upon arrival. He messed with the interface for a good while before he finally collapsed to the ground. Still wasn't in the best shape apparently. Surprise surprise.

"What the...the hell did you apes do to me?" he gasped accusingly.

"Apes?!" I replied back as the Doctor got up from her stool. "Listen here you little ingrate-"

"Mister Shield!" the doctor replied disapprovingly. I shrunk back as she looked at me with disapproval. But with a quick sigh, she turned back around to address the thief. "I treated your condition with a combination of antibiotics and antihistamines but performed nothing invasive. Though you were in horrible health when you were put into my care, you should be just fine with a few more hours of rest. However, you might not have been so lucky had this man not come upon you when he did."

"Eh...so?" he blurted caustically.

"You should thank him for saving your life."

"Thank him? Fuck that-"

"Hey, fuck you, you little shit!"

I piped down as Doctor Michel gave me another piercing stare. But she quickly returned her attention back to the little bastard near the exit. "Fine. I won't force you to express your gratitude. But I'm sure your parents would disapprove of such manners young man."

He kept his eyes on the door, obviously putting in effort to avoid eye contact. "...can I go then?"

"You're free to leave whenever you wish."

I could make out the Quarian narrowing his eyes through his visor as he turned his attention back to her. "Then let me out."

"You still have a fever, so I prefer that you stay awhile longer. As I said before however, if you really wish to leave, I will not stop you." The Quarian waited for the door. But the doctor wasn't finished. "I will ask that you let Mister Shield accompany you though to-"

"What? No!" he replied angrily.

"But the men that attacked you-"

"I'd rather be _dead_ then let one of you primates even share the same air as me!"

"Excuse you!? Fuck you, you little...you little bosh'tet!" I hollered at him as I got up from my cot.

"Mister Shield! Please! Calm down-"

"Wha...what did you just call me?!" he replied indignant.

"You heard me you Bosh-Tet."

"How do you- fuck you, you flea-ridden, discount Asari!"

I couldn't help but guffaw at that one. "Discount Asari? Hah, that's rich coming from a snot-nosed little suit rat!" I wasn't familiar with the term but it sounded derogatory enough when those thugs used it. Oh god. Did I just use something akin to the mother of all slurs for Quarians? How racist was what I just said? How _speciest_ was it-

"Suit rat? How original. But what else can you expect from a _Human_."

"Both of you-"

"That supposed to be an insult?"

"Are you stupid? Your kind's a blight on the galaxy! Just the sight of you makes us all nauseous."

"Just the sight? Well, at least we don't smell then." I took a large whiff. "Ahhh. Because tasting air is so nice. Don't you think? Oh wait."

"Fuck you! And the fuck you don't! I'm glad I'm wearing a suit so I don't have to tolerate your noxious stench!"

"Oh, I'm about to keelah bitch right now. Wait 'til-"

"ENOUGH!" Doctor Michel suddenly burst, silencing the room. My cheeks reddened as she began to go on a tirade, scolding us both. Me for acting like a child. Him for being a little ungrateful racist. Or speciest. Or whatever. By the end, it was decided. He would leave, and I would see that he got to wherever he lived safely. Neither of us were a fan but...we really didn't have much choice.

Doctor Michel refused any payment for her services though she had done more than I ever dreamed she could. And even if she didn't, I didn't have the credits to repay her kindness. So I had to pay her back in some other fashion. Even if that was agreeing to walk home some juvenile delinquent that should have been left shivering half-dead in an alleyway.

And since the little bastard himself wouldn't give us any contact information for his parents, she decided that he _should_ get home as soon as possible to not worry them further. Why he had to tolerate my presence is that the Quarian couldn't get more than two feet without falling over. While refusing any more help the doctor could have given, the little asshole obviously wouldn't make it far on his own. So here we were as we exited the building together.

"Good luck," she called after us as we left her clinic. "And be sure to contact me when you get him home safely!"

"Thanks, I will," I called back, waving with my more or less repaired hand. I then used that very hand to give the kid the finger as he tried to dart off on his own. He got about five steps before toppling over. "Yeah. We're not doing this."

But as I turned to leave, I remembered the sweet doctor and her one wish. To take him home. To get him there safely. Groaning, I turned back around and helped him off the ground, which earned me a smack across the face.

"Don't touch me you damn dirty ape!" he rasped.

"You're a little shit aren't you," I muttered back angrily. "I should have just left you in that alleyway!"

"I'd rather be there then stuck with you. Why don't-wait, what are you-hey, stop! Stop! GET OFF! NO!"

Though he shouted, he didn't put up much of a fight as I hoisted him up under my arm. Luckily, he was much lighter than I remembered. Although this time, I guess I wasn't black out drunk. I ended up carrying him while he complained all the way to the nearest transit station, upon which, I dropped him to the ground.

"OW! Fuck you!"

"God, you're annoying," I murmured as I interacted with the station's touch screen.

"Shut up bosh'tet!"

I groaned. Then with a sneer, I asked, "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Haha, nice one.

Surprisingly, the kid shut up. Though I felt a pang of guilt as he did. Might have gone a little too far. Gotten a little too close to home. But...whatever. Did Quarians even kiss each other? Is that even a sign of affection for them? I wanted to say yes but...hell, the little potty mouth should have been grateful I was even getting him a ride, let alone escorting him all the way home. I mean what am I, a baby-sitter?

"Where the hell we headed?" I asked as it confirmed a ride was on the way. He mumbled something through his visor, but I didn't quite catch his backhanded retort this time around. "I'm sorry?"

"...I can get home myself."

"...and?"

More mumbling.

"...and?"

"...you can leave."

I crossed my arms. "No can do punk. I made Doctor Michel a promise."

He noticeably shrunk back with the word promise. "...so?"

"Unlike you cretin, I have morals." The kid scowled. I assume. One couldn't really tell with the mask and all. But I didn't really care. Because fuck him. I would be out fifty credits if he had his way. "And I keep my promises." Shepard would probably disagree. Would disagree. But fuck her too.

"..."

"So...where do you live?"

"..."

"We need an address to get there."

"..."

"Oh my god. The silent treatment? Really?"

"..."

"What are you? Eight?"

"..."

He just stared at the ground, sitting silently where I dropped him now. I let out a groan. This was going to take forever. Which was right when a sky car pulled down beside us. Lucky me. As it opened its doors, I swiftly picked the Quarian up and threw him inside its compartment. As he crudely threw back an insult in response, I hopped in after him and shut the door close. And then, after sitting there silently for a couple more minutes, the Quarian begrudgingly told the car to take us to warehouse dock 045-B. Recognizing the location, the sky car displayed the route on its gps and took back to the air. I decided to get comfy as the silent sally sat next to me.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Avina's Visitor's Guide to the Citadel (The Wards)**

Welcome to Presidium Tourism Terminal 435. There are many points of interest here, including the Citadel Embassies and C-Sec headquarters. On the far end of this level, you can see the Citadel Tower, where the Council meets regularly to discuss matters of interstellar importance.

_Input 'I want to know more about the Wards.'_

The five arms of the Prothean structure referred to as the Citadel are colloquially known as the Wards. They are the residential centres of this great structure, with each being a self-contained environment home to millions. Over time, each ward has developed their own diverse cultural identity and history. The Citadel homepage on the Extranet can be consulted for further information on these structural marvels of the Citadel.

_Input 'I want to know more about Tayseri Ward.'_

Tayseri Ward was the first ward of the Citadel explored, and later inhabited, after its initial founding. After exploration, the Asari Republic designated it safe for colonization in the year 550 BCE, and has since become home to the largest Asari demographic on the Citadel.

_Input 'I want to know more about Kithoi Ward.'_

Kithoi Ward was the second ward of the Citadel deemed acceptable for colonization, though large scale habitation did not occur until the year 500 BCE, with the founding of the Citadel Council. Since then, it has become home to the largest Salarian and Turian demographics on the Citadel.

_Input 'I want to know more about Zakera Ward.'_

Zakera Ward was the third ward of the Citadel deemed acceptable for colonization, though large scale habitation did not occur until 280 BCE with the arrival of the Volus Protectorate. Since then, it has become home to the largest Volus, Hanar, Elcor, and Krogan demographics on the Citadel.

_Input 'I want to know more about Bachjret Ward.'_

Bachjret Ward was the fourth ward of the Citadel deemed acceptable for colonization, though large scale habitation did not occur until 105 BCE with the arrival of the Batarian Hegemony. Since then, it has become home to the largest Quarian and Human demographics on the Citadel.

_Input 'I want to know more about Shalta Ward.'_

Aroch Ward, formerly known as Shalta Ward, was the fifth ward of the Citadel deemed acceptable for colonization, though large scale habitation did not occur until 355 CE with the arrival of the Krogan Clans. After the Krogan Rebellions, the Ward was renamed to Aroch Ward.

_Input 'Why is it my job to write descriptions for this piece of junk.'_

Please list any grievances you have to the Council Tourism Board. Goodbye and thank you for using Avina. Please enjoy your visit to the Citadel.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Wow. What a momentous occasion. A milestone in the making. After all this time, we're finally here.**

**"The hell you talking about?"**

**What? You don't know? I think we all know what today is Dan.**

**"No, we don't."**

**Why, it's the Eighth of December, the First Anniversary of MASS EFFECTIVE: A HERO MADE of course! **

**"Who the fuck cares."**

**FUCK YOU DAN. I CARE. Thirty four chapters. Over 200,000 words. The ups. The downs. The twists and turns. The tears. The blood. The lamentations of the dead as I summoned a spirit from the nether realm to carry on my work long after I died. Ah, the memories. Anyhoo, I foolishly imagined this story to be done long ago, finished back in the Summer of 2015. It felt just like it was yester season. What a fool I was. But we must carry onwards, ever onwards, never looking back, if this story will run it's course. Will it? Only time will tell. But it will of course be thanks to you, to you all who've stuck it through thick and thin, through all the heartache and absence, through all the inane actions of Shield, through all the wild accusations of Shepard. Thank you for reading. And since this is a time for introspection and self-reflection, what better way to do this then to address some REVIEWS. Remember those guys?! Replying to REVIEWS?! Ah, good times.**

**Reviews:**

**Ford Bronco - **Thank you very much brah. I really do appreciate the compliment. But Shepard's not different. You're different! Hah, Roasted!

**Blazeit420 - **Gasp! 5/10?! Bro...thank you...I never thought I'd get such a high score. You really made my day :'( . Oh, and you suck. Haha, roasted!

**Guest - **How'd you guess the surprise ending? That's all I thought the Reapers ever wanted. To be accepted. And have tea over Shepard's dead body. Alas, now I'll have to change the conclusion since you've already guessed it. Everyone say thanks to Guest for ruining the story's climax. And I hate to tell you, but you should clip that nose hair. It's gross, and dirty, and scaring everyone. HAHA, ROASTED!

**Oy'this is'shit - **There. Updated. Updated I say! Will this satisfy your insatiable lust?! Ah, who am I kidding. Nothing will ever satisfy you. "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" HAHA, ROASTED! *High-Five*

"Wouldn't that insult the_ girl_ , because it means _she_ can't satisfy anyone?"

Shut up Dan, no one likes you. BOOM, ROASTED!

**Vader's Fist - **AND AHA! I KNEW IT. Updates are all anyone ever cares about. There's never a 'How are you doing Stache?" or "What nice weather we're having Stache?" or "I just ate a sandwich and it was really good Stache, you should try some." Just, "oh look, update." Maybe I'll just stop updating altogether. How about that? How would you like that HUH?! ...haha, no, just kidding, I love updating more than you love that dildo lying under your bed. Haha, roasted!

**BJ 4aHandsomeman - **And there's a reason for both of those, totally on purpose believe it or not. As Blaze mentioned, Shepard's a total jerk. So why? I hoped the last chapter might have spread some light on that, as she sees Shield as someone who isn't trustworthy, a traitor, which is a big no no for Shepard, and another flashback down the line perhaps. He's also lied to her, abused their trust, yadda yadda yadda so it's no big surprise. But the main reason for her just being uncouth is because 'RENSHEP DON'T DOUBLE DIP YOU DIG?'

"Is...is that supposed to be funny?"

"I think they're referencing something."

"So...no?"

Fuck you Dan. And Shepard as a Renegade is a total jerk. While Renegade options might present those hard decisions that force you to question the moral ambiguity of the situation, bottom right dialogue options just make Shepard an ass. Seriously.

'Sometimes Joker is a real ass. I just try to ignore him.' Joker has feelings too Shep.

'Conrad, you have no idea what I've done. THIS IS HOW A GUN IN YOUR FACE FEELS.' Poor Conrad, he badgers you for an autograph and you stick a live gun in his face?

'You will fight at my side, or get crushed under my heel. But you will NOT stand in my way.' That's like something Seto Kaiba would say. Asshole alert.

Just being a dick to random people at the slightest trigger. If Renegade Shepard were in a movie, they'd be the asshole hitman with no morals who the protagonist kills as the penultimate boss. If you play a renegade shep, how the hell do you recruit people and make friends while being such a MASSIVE dick. Even if they respect that you're the best at what you do, it's bonkers why they open up to Shepard at all. I still don't understand realistically why the Alliance or Council keep you on these important assignments even though you're an interstellar incident waiting to happen too. Even Kai Leng who's apparently as bad ass as Shepard was kicked to the curb for being a douche. And if you're mildly annoying like Conrad, you get a gun to your face?! For just trying to get to know Shepard better?! Realistically, how does one ingratiate themselves with someone so caustic? How did your renegade Shepard react to Miranda when they first met? How does Renshep deal with someone they don't trust? I guess I might have gone overboard, but I feel like Renshep is not a very pleasant person to deal with. Regardless of scenario. A character made to hate.

And imagine if Shield actually said that. If someone told you that. Would you believe someone if they told you they knew EVERYTHING? Would they not be curious in the slightest about their motives or origins? What if they tortured you (total renshep/Cerberus/Shadow Broker/STG/every shady organization move) to get that information out if you refuse or it becomes known you're telling the truth? What if the timeline itself changed due to your information? Like where the Illusive man's Cronos station is. Did you know TIM's main base can move? If you didn't know that, and told the Alliance it was in the Horsehead Nebula, Cerberus would obviously get a tip and move before they're found. And then you'd be left to dry. Shield tried to reduce the amount of impact his presence has in the universe so far, which is why he did he what he did. Lot of exposition in some chapters for that. To avoid having information that would be useless. Say the Shadow Broker learns you told them he was on Hagalaz. He'd sink his ship like Liara did and totally come to kill you. Information is now no longer correct and someone's out for you. No bueno. Although almost every one of his explanations and decisions were stupid, you really gotta consider EVERY outcome of the things you say in this situation. Which he obviously didn't, but hey, that's why he's an idiot. Our idiot. Oh by the way, your fly's down. BOOM, ROASTED.

**Teryn Fergus - **And now you're like, oh jesus, I just wanted to say Shield's a Bitch. Don't give me a wall of text you narcissistic bastard. I don't care enough about your story to read a essay on it. But too late. You've already opened Pandora's box. Time to reap what you have sown. IT'S STORY TIME.

In the beginning, Shield was confused, and was thinking on the fly. So I did the same. I decided the very first thing I thought of in whatever scenario Shield was in would be what he would do. Like being an agent of the Shadow Broker. Seems legit. Why the hell would the Broker care if some insignificant rando pretended to work for him? Not like he already had billions in his network. And it seemed a good way to pawn off information too without questions. Of course, he couldn't exactly take it back once things went wrong, and under scrutiny, you can tell Shield's a hella bad liar. And so it went. Shield would do hilariously stupid things in each situation because it was the immediate reaction of whatever I thought he could do. Or sometimes it was the only way for me to guide the story where I wanted to go for him. Depends on the scenario, but mostly, yeah, Shields a pretty inept character who was designed with flaws in mind.

And a little whiner too. Oh man. 'I'm a fail whale.' 'Shepard doesn't like me.' 'I miss my family.' 'Wah.' Grow a pair and man up bitch. Everyone's different and handles situation differently no doubt. Hell, one person might even make different decisions for the same scenario if given enough time to grow. And I think that in itself is the main allure of a Self Insert Story. Not putting yourself into a story and having everyone stammer in awe as you dickpunch your way victory (I ain't naming any names here but Mary Sues plague this site yo). The story's about self-growth. Character growth. Seeing that person thrust into a completely different environment and seeing them grow into the role they've been thrust in. It's the staple and backbone of every good story that ever existed. A finds themselves in B situation and adapt to become the hero everyone needs. And I guess that's the theme I envisioned when I started this story. A Hero Made.

I'm sorry if Shield was so unbearably horrible that it made you cringe every time you saw one of his actions, but hopefully, that just makes it all the sweeter once he finally does grow, and does reach his full potential as a hero (if he ever DOES! DUN DUN DUNnnn). But yeah, over the course of this next arc, I intend for Shield to do just that. Grow. I guess we'll just have to see how much.

**Captain of the Titanic - **And that's not your decision to make! Slut! HA, ROASTED!

PS - JK. I love you bro. No homo.

PSS - Maybe just a little.

And last but not least-

**EYYYY** \- You're one of my new favorite readers. Congratulations. Also, you smell bad. HA, CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT BECAUSE YOU JUST GOT BURNED!

* * *

**In the Next Chapter: Shield tours the Slums! It's quite the hardknock life for hobos! And finally...friends?!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	35. Hello Honey! I'm Home(less)!

"...good work today Human. I don't care WHAT they say about your race. You're all as good and honest workers as everyone else. Keep it up and you might just change some minds around here."

"Uh...okay."

And as the foreman bade me goodbye, I quickly stumbled out of the building, deciding to head straight for the road, setting off for my long trek back home. The shimmering violet lights the Serpent Nebula's gas clouds did little to illuminate the grimy streets I walked across, and the cold shoulders that I received from those passing me did little to help the gloomy setting. And as I shuffled the way I thought was back home, the mounting loneliness I had only tasted days before began to grow anew. Even after reaching my destination much, much later, I can't say that-

...That I didn't jump when the door in front of me suddenly slammed open, nor when Saren himself made an appearance behind it. Only a face of pure horror could be mustered in response, as his wretched visage thus turned toward me, eyes glowering intensely into my very being, and-

And then I realized it was just some guy. And okay, sure, that may have been a little misleading. 'How the hell could you mistake someone for Saren?!' you might exclaim. This guy doesn't even have a robotic arm you might add; where are all his miscellaneous tubes and hoses you ask; how did you mistake those irises for Saren's cold, dead, malevolent, cybernetic eyes?

But then again...there aren't too many pale, white-skinned, bare-faced Turians walking around this joint too alright? So, like, whatever.

Anyhoo, once we locked eyes and exchanged looks, he took my apparent fear at face value, and threw his own look of disgust my way as well. And his displeasure had been pretty well telegraphed. His fangs were bared, 'brows' were furrowed, and the guy was staring daggers at me like I was some kind of disgusting rodent all up in his pantry. The man's face had all the makings of a classic scowl really. And I made sure to return the favor as he started walking in my direction. Though my body reflexively tensed as he did.

To be honest, I was pretty used to this face by this point. Not HIS face per say, as I'm pretty sure this was the first time I actually ever saw this Turian around here, but the face that every alien and their mother in this district decided to throw my way once they laid eyes on me. I couldn't take a squat without one of them glaring in my general direction, nose upturned at the very sight. And I can't deny that it didn't hurt my feelings a little every time I saw them too. Being looked upon as an outsider, viewed with disgust, like I was something completely unnatural and unwanted in the world. It almost made me want to cry. My hand reflexively wiped the corner of my eye as the Turian passed me. I've been finding such tears quite recent to be frank.

That was sarcasm by the way. Cry? Ha, as if. I mean, what self-respecting man would ever do that? I am nothing if not modest. But if I wasn't, then I'd brag that I was the epitome of manliness; I pretty much ooze macho charisma out of ever pore; have so much that it was coming out the wazoo; my face was even beleaguered by the thick coat of charisma that defines a male such as thus; there is simply no obstacle I cannot currently conquer with my manly prowess. I am nothing if not a paragon of rugged masculinity. Like I'd ever do something as pathetic and weak as cry-

Oh right. Ahem. Back on topic. Anyhoo, if it wasn't too clear by this junction, Humans weren't too welcome down in these parts of the Wards. Before I could even walk a single block, I can assure you an alien child would have already pointed me out to their parents with an expression of both surprise and disgust. Nor could I even turn a corner without a random passerby just giving me the stink-eye, and occasionally spitting in my general direction along with it. Just after a single day, it was pret-ty easy for ANYONE to see why there weren't more of my kind down this way-

_Oh great. I just said 'my kind' didn't I? Okay-_

Let's just say the racism (or was it speciesism?) down here was surprisingly strong and leave it at that. Way more so than I had ever imagined to be honest, and apparently, it was already getting to me too. With a dejected sigh, I then ignored the aforementioned Saren cosplayer purposefully bump into me and continued on to open the recently shut door behind him myself. And after I lazily tugged the side entrance to the warehouse open, I began to slowly trudge into the place I currently called home:

_24601 Kithoi – 19U – 57E – 1183 Tikkun Avenue__. _

Otherwise known as the street address of Narhu Combine Warehouse 045-B.

Which was_ supposedly_ also referred to as the Altakiril Abode, or what the place's name had roughly translated to when I had heard it. Apparently a place founded by some old Turian decades ago to help the less fortunate, god rest his soul. Built as a refuge for those unable to afford the rent of housing on the Citadel's mainstream market, or a place of simple shelter for those just a little down on their luck.

Pause.

Now, while its moniker might _sound_ fancy, you must also remember that the 'Altakiril Abode' is based out of a shady warehouse lightyears away from the Presidium, and the peering eyes of high society and the law. And while the purpose of the place might _seem_ just altruistic and dandy, I also soon learned that everyone in this dump was boarding here illegally. And in fact, most would come to realize that the place could be likened much more to some sort of alien hacienda, with the Turian founder basically having constructed the place just to get a free workforce indentured to him, who could then work at his lucrative middle-man shipping business for a cost of next to nothing. The very shipping business I was just given a job at, no questions asked, of course.

And so, within hours of arriving, I came to realize that Narhu Combine Warehouse 045-B, AKA the Altakiril Abode, was in reality an infamous shantytown in Kithoi Ward's Manash district, and one often overlooked by the authorities simply due its sheer number of inhabitants. And contrary to what Old Man Quarian had told me when I had first arrived, I found that very few actually referred to it as 'the Abode'. It was much more commonly referred to by its other name...

'The Shitadel'.

Because it stank. Like poo. A lot of poo. Alien poo.

Frankly it was awful. Learning my lesson from days before, I was already breathing through my sleeve as I entered the warehouse and began making my way down the building's giant aisles. While the smell was quite atrocious...the sights inside were quite captivating. On either side of me, one could see dozens of those colonial homes present on Horizon or Freedom's Progress, all heaped on top of one another haphazardly, like stacks of pancakes, towering far, far up into the rafters of the storehouse above.

Many of them were covered in rust, having lost their sleek finish what must have been decades ago, with others decked in copious amounts of graffiti, mostly consisting of creative pictograms and ethnic slurs. A large majority of these homes could be described as just downtrodden in general. I mean, even their entrances were just covered by grimy dirt-stained cloths or drapes, the only means these people had to provide a little privacy for whomever was currently living inside. And I can personally attest that their inhabitants were equally as dirty, a large majority of them I've deemed to be destitute immigrants, disingenuous hobos, or just simple criminals on the lam.

But despite all this, I had to admit, the magnitude and disparity between the inside of this warehouse and the view outside was captivating. How far had the future come after so many years, only to have such great displays of poverty. Astonishing really. An interesting insight and elaborate commentary that goes to show that even in an interstellar community that's existed for eons, the strong will still take advantage of the weak, and the what I am even saying, who cares about any of that haha. The real sin was that this place didn't have any plumbing or real waterworks, and the reason for the stench. Any how, after passing about ten rows of these friendly figures sitting in front of their compartment apartments, I arrived at the one which had been graciously assigned to me specifically.

Staring up with a mandatory gulp, quickly followed by another sigh, I then, VERY carefully, scaled the rickety ladder leading up to my place.

_Ladder_ you might ask?

Why yes, but of course, ladders were imperative to access these wonderful sky high compartments stacked far above, and were in no shape or form extremely dangerous to use. Sarcasm. No joke, apparently someone fell and died the very day I arrived, which wasn't horrifying to hear at all. Unfortunately for me, and everyone else in this dump, these ladders of dubious reliability precariously perched on the apartment ledges were the only means to scale the rusty sides of these 'homes', and if your designated apartment space was three stories high like mine was, then you better hope that you didn't forget that in the early morning, and rush out the door blindly like a jackass after waking up late for work. Like that other guy I mentioned who became a splatter did.

Muscles tensed, I gave a final heave, and quickly hopped off the ladder with the grace of a gazelle, landing right before the entrance to my new pad. And pushing aside the damp cloth acting as my door, I entered the room. This was followed by a beeline straight for the dirty mattress I was graciously loaned from downstairs, collapsing atop it as soon as I was in arm's reach. Really the only reason I would ever come here besides the privacy. The room itself hadn't really been cleaned since its last inhabitant OD'ed in it, so it still had the occasional pile of used syringes scattered about, as well as a good number of dried, dark-brown stains of dubious origins. Despite the slightly used atmosphere however...it was home right now. Or as close as I could get to one.

"Knock knock."

And you wouldn't believe the shit I've have to put up with since it had become so. Even shantytowns apparently have their own systemic hierarchies and structures of power, and I was quickly forced to memorize them after I was saved from a bad run-in with some ill-gotten Vorcha. To break it down for you, the warehouse could basically be divided into four parts-

"Knock Knock!"

...So you can first start with the furthest back left-most division of the warehouse colloquially referred to as the 'Kiril Quarter', which is basically where a bunch of old, racist Turians live with their impoverished families, all apparently third-generation warehousians who's great-grandpappies moved in when the place was first built. Real stuck-up dickwads from what I've seen, and basically what you could consider to be the aristocratic and 'nice' part of town. I made sure to keep my distance from there. Didn't need the ostracizing or pandering speciesism thank you very much. And after them, I guess the next most significant division would be the closest most-left corridor of the place called the SH-AT section, on account of all the-

"I SAID, 'KNOCK KNOCK'!"

"oh my fuckin'-WHAT!?"

"Uh, excuse me? I can do without the freakin' attitude thank you very much."

"_Jesus chri_\- Whaddya want!?"

"Uh, I'm pretty sure you weren't raised by Batarians, so that's not how this works. I'm going to need an apology first."

"I-...For what?!"

"Uh, for your rude behavior. Obviously? That tone was in no way, shape, or form appropriate to address a young lady with. Apologize."

"...no."

"Aw c'mon Al, a single 'sorry' would go a long way. Please? You really did hurt my feelings just now."

As you can see, a man can't even find enough time to deliver proper exposition around these parts before being interrupted.

And I have literally no idea how she got Al from Marauder Shield. It may be short for Alliance, but as you've probably seen thus far, I don't think anyone would give that much credit to what she might call a thought process.

"Well your face really hurts my eyes."

"You're mean."

"I don't care."

"Can I come in?"

"No."

"Please?"

"God are you there?"

"What?"

"I gotta ask...why do you hate me God?"

"Is that a yes?"

"I mean, what have I ever done to you? Am I really that bad a person? Are my sins that great? I know I've done my fair share of bad things but...do I really deserve this?"

Of course, I knew by now that my answer to any of her questions didn't really matter. If she wanted to come in, she'd-

"I forgive you!" I subsequently heard her reply in place of the Lord, footsteps already well on their way inside as they ignored whatever response might follow.

You'd think it'd be hard to predict someone's actions after knowing them for all of a day or two, but Leena was a special case. Though it was hard to tell with my face currently buried in my stained mattress, there were few others around this place as churlish as her. Oh, 'Leena', the person who had just invited themselves in on the by and by, was a Turian that I learned never took no for an answer...no matter how many times I said it. And a major pain in the ass to boot. You'd think she-

"Wow, really liked what you've done with the place!"

"You're hilarious," I now mumbled, rising up from my bed.

"No, really! You did a good job tidying up! You even cleaned out Prazza!"

"Prazza?"

"Oh, _right_, I keep forgetting that you're new here. Prazza was the nickname Karus and some of the others gave that giant hairball that sat in the corner over there."

I lifted my head and stared in the direction of said hairball. And said hairball was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh JESUS! It's gone! What the hell?!"

"What?!" the Turian suddenly shrieked.

"Where the hell did it go?!"

"I-what?! What do you mean where did it go!?"

"I swear it was here last night!"

"Spirits-" she next gasped.

"What did you do with it?!"

"What?! I didn't do anything! I just walked in and you...no way. Ew! No way-"

Unfortunately, after seeing the expression of blatant horror and disgust on her face, I couldn't help but burst out laughing a second later. And after a brief bout of confusion, she soon caught on and shot a 'you're an asshole' my way.

I had thrown out that disgusting pile of crap as soon as I had set foot into this room. The whole place smelled worse than a wet dog that had rolled around in a pile of dead fish ridden with worms and then left outside in the sun to rot. And it soon became apparent that that very pile of fuzz was the culprit. I threw up twice just looking at it. So you can be sure as hell I got rid of that shit as soon as I stepped in. And though I wish I hadn't seen it, it had barely been a second before I subsequently saw a Vorcha scrounge by where I just had dropped it and devour it in a single gulp. That was the moment I knew that this place was truly forsaken in the eyes of God.

And after laying there bored on my dirty mattress, watching her pout for what seemed like eternity after our little shtick, I decided to finally bite the bullet and break the blissful silence.

"So...what's up?"

"I'm not talking to you."

"Ok then. Bye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

"Spirits, calm down you ass...I just came by because Nar Tasi wanted to see you."

"Really."

"Yeah, he does. Honest this time. Probably wanted to ask you how your first day of work was and stuff. Or something. I don't know. "

"Well...I _guess_ I'll go pay him a visit then...thanks Neena," I decided to add as she already began to start for the door.

"It's Leena," the copper-skinned alien corrected me annoyed before stepping out, clearly displeased that I was still getting her name wrong. Purposefully. And to be quite honest, you can be damn sure that I always would. I was going to make sure I annoyed her as much as she annoyed- "Hey," she suddenly started again, pausing in the quote unquote doorway. "...you haven't spoken to Zael recently...have you? I've been worrying about him."

Lifting my head from the mattress, I simply replied, "That's probably what Nar Tasi wants to talk to me about...but I'll tell you next time I see him."

"...thanks."

And like that, she was gone.

If I hadn't already mentioned, Meena was my downstairs neighbor, and luckily, had a colonial box on the ground floor of the warehouse. God would I kill for one of those. And unlike the other residents of this shithole, Teena didn't seem to mind that I was Human. Was probably the very first person to introduce themselves in the neighborhood to be honest...and probably the closest thing I could currently call a friend here. So yeah, I wasn't entirely sure why I was always a dick to her. Really should work on that.

In any case, after she had left and a couple more minutes of loafing around, I decided to get myself back out of bed, let out a miserable groan, and headed out to see the person who had just sent her up to me. And it didn't take long to reach his place. He only lived about four rows down from where my current pad was, and with all the space junk set around it, it was kind of hard to miss.

Letting out one last dejected sigh, I peeled back the dusty curtain to his domicile, whereupon I found the old man sitting at a small table, playing what he had called Kepesh-Yakshi on an old, worn out holo-board by himself. Upon seeing me however, he quickly reset the game he had just began and motioned for me to join him. I couldn't say I was a prodigy or anything, but I apparently played better than most of the other bums in this joint. And as I sat down, beginning the game of what I likened to space chess, he started to rattle on about his day.

Enter Nar Tasi, AKA, Old Man Quarian.

The very first person who had greeted me in this damned place, and had shown me everything I could ever hope to know about it. You could probably liken him to the 'village elder' of this section in the warehouse, and was the oldest resident (willing to go out of their way in any case) to help those that needed it. Directed new arrivals to empty apartments, constantly checked on people to see if they were doing well and had what they needed, a general fount of wisdom for everyone near (whether they wanted it or not). Just a generally swell person to be frank.

Probably would have done all this for me and more even if I hadn't brought the Quarian kid in with me. Which was exactly who I expected our conversation would turn to after his frigate blitzed through my blockade.

"...I've noticed you're a very cautious player."

"Uh, thanks I-"

"Too cautious I was going to say!" the old man suddenly scolded me. "After seeing this game, it's become evident that your play style is not to win, but instead, not to lose."

"...uh...okay. Though I'm not sure I get the differ-"

"They're as different as day and dusk! ...It's clear that you're scared of taking risks. You play cautiously Mister Marauder, making solely defensive-no...passive moves! All due to this perceived fear of losing. But I'll tell you this...to win, you must take _risks _Marauder! If one does not make their own opportunities, one is just delaying another's victory. You cannot hope that the other player will make a mistake for you. You must force them to."

And with that tirade, he gave his frigate orders to bomb my capital. His ship slipped in between my forked fighters, dropped its payload, and my planet exploded into a million tiny fragments over the board. And just like our three other matches, I had lost. Although this time I at least lasted a whole five turns.

"Good game," I muttered.

"It was respectable," he at least conceded.

"I think I know where I went wrong this time though-"

"Good!" the Quarian now rasped. "One of the greatest things a person can do when they experience loss is learn from it! A lesson that I have tried to impart upon young Zael time and time again...but he is young, and as the young tend to do, ignore what advice we in our old age have for them."

And as aforementioned, just like every other conversation we had, the topic had already turned to Zael.

Zael, AKA, little snot-nosed Quarian buttmunch. The one I had taken upon myself to carry off the streets and back to Doctor Michel's Clinic what had seemed like years ago. The very same little shit that had not just tried steal my chit three days ago. Showing up to this place with him in my arms was apparently pretty noteworthy to Old Man Quarian however, who for no reason at all held himself responsible for the kid. And by transitive property, I became pretty noteworthy to those who in turn respected Old Man Quarian. Which was why the representative of this division got me my own place, why a woman lent me one of her unused cots, and why I was even offered a job lifting crates at the local warehouse (the one actually used for wares two blocks down).

And as recompense for all this, I only needed to continue to remain in Old Man Quarian's good graces. And the surest way to do that was to carry out his requests- his one request really. One that continued to appear time after time again...the sole request that I'd keep an eye on the aforementioned kid for him. Because for some odd reason...he thought yours truly was the one most suited for the job.

Why? Only God knows. In Old Man Quarian's words, it's because 'A mausen is only lost when their shala is absent. And so, a mausen can only find its path when it is led by its shala sellah once again. Keelah se'lai.' And as much as I love Quarian proverbs, I didn't know what the hell he meant when he said this, nor why the 'Mausen's shala' had to be me.

* * *

**Much (but not very) Later.**

But it was because of this very reason that I was 'keeping an eye' on the kid again today, and why I was currently following him this very minute through the markets of Manash. Stalking more like, but, eh, tomato tomato. To be honest, the snot-nosed punk had been making it pretty easy for me. He never stopped once to look over his shoulder, and when he did stop, it was only to enter almost every other alleyway he came across. Hell, he was even walking at a pace that a snail wouldn't be envious of. Rookie stuff I'm telling ya.

I didn't have a clue what he was doing out here, surely not window shopping, and it didn't exactly seem like he was taking a relaxing stroll through town either. But as long as I had my eyes on him, it didn't really-

Oh, right. 'Marauder, I'm confused, why are you following him at all?' you might ask.

Well, I couldn't really tell you that either. It might be because every effort I've made to talk with the kid so far has ended up with him throwing a few expletives my way before dashing off shortly after. Or that if I stayed in my apartment all day, I'd be badgered with countless other jobs from my neighbors. Because apparently, once you're known as a helpful Samaritan, everyone thinks they can take advantage of you. And do.

So regardless of the exact reasoning, here I was. Taking a decidedly different approach in regard to Old Man Quarian's actual request. I mean, I would be keeping an eye on the kid like he asked...just without him realizing it.

And to be honest, I was kind of regretting it, as nothing exciting was really going on at all. Though I guess there are worse ways to spend your afternoon. I at least expected him to be doing something interesting though, something uncouth or vagabond that I could rip into him for. He was a little punk after all. But no, there he was, just walking (albeit weirdly) through the streets of the Wards. Watching him boringly dart around to be frank could be likened to reading an unpublished, unproofed, unchecked bloated sub-par novel written in Microsoft word, with seemingly no end in sight-

"AH! MY EYES!"

An 'oh shit' probably escaped my mouth as I snapped my neck away from the fruit stand I was just purveying, immediately turning to see where and what the commotion was coming from. The where happened to be from a shop just a block up, and the who was a mustached man raising his hand to a bloody brow, shouting raspily at the top of his lungs. The what was the fuck that my Quarian charge was doing when he seemed to subsequently dart away from the man into an alley after the commotion occurred.

And then an 'ah shit' probably escaped my lips as I darted into the alley besides me next, already connecting the dots in my head. If there were dots to connect that is. I mean it was pretty evident what just happened.

As a great man once said, 'once a thief, always a thief.'

_Descartes really knew his shit huh. Wait. Or maybe it was Socrates. He is the father of anecdotal quotes. You know what, actually wasn't it someone else with a –tes at the end of their name? Who else could have...Patrick Bates maybe? Wait, no, that doesn't sound right. And wait a second. I'm confusing Patrick Bateman with Norman Bates aren't I? Norman Bateman was in Psycho and the other was...also in a movie called Psycho? That totally can't be right. And which one said what? Huh? I don't even remember what the plot of Psycho is anymore. And Patrick Bateman was pretty batshit insane in it. I can't imagine him saying anything as profound as that. And I mean, that's a pretty timeless proverb right there. _

_Okay, but I can assuredly say Norman Bates was definitely the main character in the movie Psycho, so he must totally be the titular psycho instead, so I can't imagine HIM saying anything profound either...could they both be in the same movie? Am I mistaken? Was one of them in a sub-par adaptation? And why am I going on about fictional psychopaths? Is that you subconscious? Are trying to tell me something here? That I might just have something in common with these guys? Well...you know what? You can shut the hell up. I'm as sane as...and I could have sworn I was just talking about Nietzsche or something before this. How did I go from famous philosopher to psychopaths? He's definitely no psycho. Oh, well...I guess that's debatable. Oh what the- how the hell did I even get on this topic? Oh my god, damn you brain, damn you-_

My trusty legs navigated where I needed to go as my mind unfortunately wandered, and as it turned out, they thankfully didn't even need guidance. Good ol' trusty legs. Having a foot up on the kid probably made it a lot easier to catch up to him too as he came into my sight. Or so I had been thinking as my legs suddenly refused to let go of their newly found independence, and continued onwards, decidedly ignoring the signals of my brain to stop, and unsurprisingly, collided with the miscreant helmet first, not nanoseconds later.

With my current speed and size on him, I trucked right over him, and though it already smarted, I made sure to worsen the concussion I received by smacking my head hard against the ground immediately after, which was accompanied by a loud, synchronized thud. A "GAGH-" left both our mouths as we quickly crumpled to the floor of the empty back alleyway, clutching our respective noggins in pain. And I found the whole affair to be worthy of some second-rate sitcom to be frank. But life is just like that sometimes. It's always full of little clichéd-

"What-what the hell are YOU doing here?!" Zael suddenly spat across from me, already attempting to get back up on his feet.

"Ah...just, uh...give me a second," I could only manage to sputter in response, rubbing my head before remembering why I was on the floor. "...Just give back what you stole from that guy jackass."

I immediately received what I discerned to be something along the lines of "racist bosh'tet" and his subsequent return to escaping the crime scene. Although, with my bulging, if not rippling, muscles, I seemed to have hit him quite hard when we collided. He only managed to stumble a couple steps before falling back to the floor on his knees.

"...and why the hell did you try to blind that guy? I understand the theft, _because you're a little shit_, but...how the hell did he deserve a claw to the face? What kind of asshole are you? Rob a man, and try to maim him while you're at it?"

In response, all I got was a terse, "He had a gun."

"Probably had it out because you were stealing his crap," I retorted, now getting back up to my feet.

"Guns are illegal on the Citadel idiot!" the Quarian shot back, now mimicking my movements.

"And?" I decided to childishly spit out next, deigning to ignore that I myself had been breaking Citadel law for the entire duration of my stay thus far.

"So! He's a criminal! He's one of them! What I took wasn't even his! I took back what didn't belong to him!"

"...what. That's straight up retarded. So, what, you think you're some kind of Robin Hood now?"

"What?" he next spouted annoyed, now preparing to bolt again.

"Oh right. Sorry. Robin Hood was a Human folklore hero who had the whole 'steal from the rich, give to the poor' kinda deal going on-"

"No, you HUMANS are the ones who steal every day! It's not stealing if I take back something that doesn't belong to you in the first place!"

_What? Who the hell does this kid think he is? Balak? Well guess what you little racist, or speciest, you're two eyes and an asteroid short of him. _

"Okay. He's a successful shop owner, owns a thriving business, but just because he's _Human_, you decide that he's criminal filth and that it's alright to take what he earned with hard work? That it's theft because others are losing work and money to him, just because his shop's doing better?" I stared him down like the ignorant cur he was before continuing to lay down the smackdown. "Well guess what pal. You're just the fucking teapot calling the kettle black. You racist, speciest, little shit. Maybe if-"

"You're the ones who're thieves!" he suddenly roared back, or as much as his prepubescent voice would let him. "Your kind takes from others just because you can, and because no one's willing to stand up to you! Well I'm not going to be one of them! I'm no coward! I'll take back everything you Humans stole! And then everyone'll see what your kind does when someone appears who can actually fight back! When you're all alone, you're cowards! Just like today! He tried to threaten me with a gun because he was too cowardly to fight me himself! And yet he still had the gall to have the Salarra's heirloom lay out in the open for all to see!"

"...what?"

"You're all-"

Footsteps suddenly echoed down our alleyway, the sounds of which had us both freeze where we were-

"Freeze where you are!"

...like I was saying, we both turned our necks in unison toward the new voice bellowing from behind, where two stark black and blue uniformed Turians were coming into view.

"Oh shit," I heard him mutter too as we recognized as our guests.

"..."

The face-off was intense. We slowly edged back as they slowly edged closer. One wrong move and things would go to heck in a hand basket if-

"CHEESE IT!"

I was already back on my feet and booking it as I shouted the words, making sure to grab the delinquent by his arm as I said it too. Though he immediately made to shrug me off, I could tell he decided in the end that it was in his best interest to follow my lead nonetheless as I headed for the adjacent alleyway.

"STOP! IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"

My feet pounded against the pavement hard, sweat already dripping down my brow as we hung left down the next alleyway. The district around us was rife with passageways, and I could imagine one getting easily lost in them for days on end. But luckily for I, as soon as we had kicked the second turn, the kid had passed me, and I began following his lead instead. He seemed to know the labyrinth like the back of his hand, entering corridors and dark spaces I didn't even notice until we were rocketing down them.

And I could tell you right then that I wouldn't be cut out for his lifestyle. Too much running. It wasn't until several minutes later when he skidded to a stop that we finally paused, and I could actually breathe for the first time. And that first breath felt like fire was invading my lungs. Running's pretty awful I tell you hwat.

"Why...are you following me?" the kid suddenly rasped beside me, apparently as worn-out as myself, boosting my ego just a bit.

"I ain't going to jail for your ass," I replied in between the panting and the heaving and the wheezing.

"Then don't! Just leave," he gasped again, body bent over the ground.

"They saw me with you. It doesn't matter if I want to leave or not. I can't. And I ain't taking the fall for this if they catch me."

A lack of response to that simply led us to both standing quietly, recovering our breaths in the corridor, thinking silently of what to do next.

"...Hey."

"What."

"Zael...what...what were you talking about before? Right before the fuzz showed up?"

"What the hell's the fuzz."

"The cops. I meant the cops. C-Sec."

"...I don't know what you're talking about."

"Who were you talking about when you said-"

The echo of an object being kicked aside behind us caused our heads to immediately snap in the direction of the sound.

And the next turn of events all happened in less than a blink of an eye.

The party crashers behind us had their guns drawn, faces darkened by the shadows cast across them, already beginning to encroach on us rapidly from the other end of the alley way. I had to admit, at that moment, I had half a mind to turn Zael over to the officers. Make him learn there are consequences to your actions.

But on the other hand, I was really only here in the first place for one reason. And that was because I had promised Old Man Quarian that I'd watch over the kid while he was out and about. To keep him out of harm's way. And I couldn't exactly let-

I felt my blood run cold as my eyes ran over the officers quickly approaching once more. And as my eyes met theirs, a shrill ringing began to set off in my ear. My stomach contorted, my muscles tensed out of shock, veins ran cold, the whole shebang. Because I now registered that the black and blue cops had their weapons drawn. Fingers already on the trigger.

He was guilty of petty theft at worst.

But the look in the eyes of these two humans were only filled with pure vitriol. Disgust. They wore faces of blatant malice. Gazes that reminded me of one generally hateful person in particular. It was what I saw in the face of Commander Shepard all too often when I was back aboard the Normandy. The look she wore when someone had crossed her.

And every instinct told me to-

"GRK."

My face was slammed against the grimy deck before I knew what happened.

And I quickly realized I wouldn't have made it in time. I wouldn't have been quick enough to do it myself as the Quarian fell atop me. As gunfire exploded in the alleway, bullets quickly whizzing over our prone bodies, I pathetically gaped for air in response. Though the pain coursing through my cheek demanded that I pay attention to it, it was naught a second later that we had already both sprung up, sprinting down the adjacent corridor in unison. The guns cracked again as we left, firing off rounds in quick pursuit.

My mind split for a moment as I felt two graze me, but I ignored the pain of them as well. My leg kept mimicking the other as if it wasn't just hit, and I made no attempt to stop the bleeding coming from my neck as we quickly hung right.

The only thing I was truly aware of over the gun shots and the pain were the officers cursing behind us, their footsteps now echoing behind, starting their hunt.

And like the animals we were, we bolted down the dark back streets of the Ward together, breaths ragged, primal looks of fear assuredly blatant on our faces as we refused to look back. Or fear blatant on mine at least. The Quarian's mask was too dark to see any of his features. Chiding my gaze for even wandering to his face in the first place, I quickly braked to avoid hitting the wall and followed Zael down another alleyway on our right.

Pointless observations aside, I didn't desire to meet my end here. Definitely not here. Not now.

So my feet pounded against the ground along with his, now hurting just from how hard they were pushing off the cracked foundation. But they kept going, as did the Quarian beside me, as we simply continued to just run. We weaved within the maze of the Ward's back streets for what seemed like years, scurrying like rats, feebly attempting escape, the footsteps behind us hounding our every move. Something I grudgingly realized was probably habitual for this kid. My eyes snapped back into focus as another gun shot rang out behind us. I'm pretty sure something nicked me in concert with it.

Then something clattered behind us as we leaped over a decrepit crate.

And though Zael looked over his shoulder, concerned about what it was, he still continued to run. As did I.

But even being confronted with the end can only make someone move for so long. It wasn't long until we came to a stop some time later. And as we came to a halt, I unwittingly stopped to realize that we were now only a block away from the Abode. There the warehouse was, sitting across the street from our alley way.

The glorious bastard had been leading us back the entire time, as opposed to fleeing blindly into the night. But my gratitude only lasted a moment before reality set in.

Fatigue was finally catching up with us, and now that we had stopped, our bodies now had time to scream as loudly as they could for air, legs that were once unstoppable pistons now turning to jelly. And as we curled up from exhaustion, dying, a C-Sec agent slowly walked into view from across the street.

With what little strength I had left, I immediately grabbed and forcibly wedged him and myself underneath the pile of trashed crates beside us. And though we had surely thrown off the pair hunting us what must have been several dozen street passes ago, we both remained deathly silent together, unbearably still underneath the garbage, fearful of even making a breath.

Unfortunately, I heard their footsteps grow nearer.

I wondered if they had seen me-

I wondered if we had even shaken the others after all, and if they hadn't just called our whereabouts in-

I wondered what would happen as I began to reach into my clothing for my gun.

And the time to ponder all this made me even more fearful. I had been in a handful of situations, if not dozens, assuredly more perilous than this in my time here-

The footsteps were now approaching the entrance of the alleyway.

I mean fuck. I've fought Geth. Pirates. Rogue Alliance Cells, Murderous Escaped Science Projects, Corrupt Security Forces, more Geth-

They now seemed to stop at the edge of the dumpster, the last object harboring their view of the crates we were laying beneath.

And as I clenched my hand around the grip of my gun- someone called out to them, from the street. And the footsteps of the officer in the alleyway immediately seemed to backpedal, quickly growing distant as they started back in the direction of the new voice.

The palpable fear I felt run through my body was surprising to even myself. Frightening really. I mean why was I even scared?

But, to spare myself the fear of the unknown, I ended up attributing this fear to the mere fact that sinister things seemed to be afoot in the district around me. The racism (or was it speciesism?), the homicidal cops, the words of Zael from earlier...

And in an ironic twist, attempting to assuage my fear of the unknown caused me to realized that I feared this situation simply because it was the unknown. I had no idea what was going on around me. A realization that I acknowledge has recurred over and over and over like a hellish Groundhog Day since the moment I got here.

I literally have no idea what's going on around me.

And I would highlight that it was at this specific moment that everything changed. When my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to finally seek out that stupid why. Look for answers. The truth.

Things would have ended up quite differently had I just decided to drop everything and leave the damn place. Count down the days until the Battle of Citadel finally reared its ugly head. Just sit back, doing nothing, instead of pretending to be a hero-

Ah, maybe nothing would be that different in all honesty but...do I regret my choice in the end?

I couldn't say. You can't really know if you regret something for sure until the very end. Until you know that very most utter final outcome of the decision. But regardless, that general lack of knowing was a feeling that I've become quite familiar with as of late. And regardless of my feelings on the matter, we decided to continue laying still. And minutes passed. And then hours. And then lights dimmed, and the sounds of the streets eventually died down, indicating they were now devoid of people and vendors. And 'Night' had finally set in over the district.

And it was at that very moment the alley way become pitch dark that we both knew we'd make that final dash toward the warehouse.

We took a deep breath.

And then charged out from the back alley we'd been hiding in.

Within seconds, Zael and I were already moving into the warehouse, weaving its wide corridors, ignoring the several dozen eyes that cast themselves upon us as we rushed through. We were only stopped when Leena's face finally met mine several turns in, upon which, she quickly took Zael's hand in her own, coercing him with little effort to come home with her. And as they went, looking over her shoulder, the Turian motioned back to me in the direction of Old Man Quarian.

* * *

If there was one good thing about this neomodern ghetto, it was that news traveled fast. Not many Quarians were delinquent enough to thieve from storefronts out in broad daylight, and several officers (as we saw ourselves) had been seen skulking about Zael's usual haunts by the various locals. Upon hearing about this from a nosy Nancy, Old Man Quarian wasted no time in putting two and two together, having several warehousians apparently split up to look for us as well, lead the officers off our trail when they could, so we'd have the opportunity to make it back.

It was this incident that cemented the fact that the Old Man really did pull a lot of weight around this place.

But it's not like I knew this at the time. The very first thing that he did of course was thank me for bringing the kid back home safe upon entering. Then I found myself on a bed, Quarian already treating me for the first injuries he could see, not humoring any unintelligible objections that may have escaped my lips.

And after he had finished with me, the Old Quarian who called himself Nar Tasi began to speak. Really speak. Practically spilled his soul out to me to be frank. I felt kind of bad for falling in and out of it as he told a story, about him and Zael. But I had a long day. And the stuff he had me drink was making things a little hazy. In the beginning, he merely lambasted the youth for his impulsive behavior, as he usually did, forsaking Zael's miscreant ways for the next hour or so. He may have mentioned knowing his father back when he was alive during the tirade, I wasn't sure. How he would have never approved of his actions. How he would have raised the boy to rise above it all, followed by a lot of hope spots, if only's, and wishful thinking and the rest of that garbage. Then he took a dark turn sometime around there. Something about organized crime causing his death. A new crime syndicate of power in the district marginalizing the rest. Those who didn't meet their ideals bullied and treated like Vorcha. That last bit seemed a little insensitive to said Vorcha living down the street but I guess old people of all races are just like that. I also faintly recall him bringing up that I came during a time where I would only meet prosecution. That he was glad I had stayed despite this.

I never asked why he told me all this. Or maybe I had asked and I just didn't remember.

But I was just tired at this point. Oh so tired.

Quite tired. Too tired to keep my eyes open as he continued to talk.

In the end, my will gave up, and I decided to finally rest my eyes, still managing to catch a few words here and there.

And as I laid back, my eyes shut close. I was simply too tired to do anything else.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Feros Colony**

Feros is a semi-habitable world in the Attican Beta cluster discovered by the Exogeni Corporation in 2139 CE. Two-thirds of its habitable surface is covered with the ruins of crumbling Prothean megalopolis, left behind after their extinction. Thusly so, Feros was considered a poor prospect for colonization due to this, as little open ground remains for agriculture. The only sizable fresh water sources are the poles, which are tapped by the decaying Prothean aqueduct system. The dead cities, while in good condition considering their antiquity, are of uncertain stability. Ground level is congested by a dozen meters of fallen debris, and the air is fouled by dust.

Though the discovery of a planet formerly inhabited by Protheans created much hoopla among those back at Earth, initial excitement of the find eventually died down, with little to show for the Alliance's extraneous efforts in probing the remains of the Prothean ruins over the next several decades. After heated negotiations and in an attempt to recover lost capital, control of the system was shortly returned back to the private investors that had discovered it. Later, in the aftermath of the Relay 314 incident, the Systems Alliance informed the Citadel Council of this planet as a gesture of good faith for their invitation to the Galactic stage. Despite Exogeni's protest, the Council was authorized to send several sanctioned Prothean survey and archaeological teams to purvey the planet and discover what Human hands may have missed. Meeting the same results of the Systems Alliance decades earlier, interest in the planet died down once again.

Many intrepid adventurers looking to make themselves known on the galactic scale have also purveyed its ruins, hoping to come across the next big Prothean find. However, a majority of these expeditions have yielded little more than dust, corporate sanctions by Exogeni for unauthorized looting, and the occasional pointed insight into Prothean architecture. Due to the hundreds of fruitless excursions since its discovery, the planet has become something of an interstellar joke. A recent colloquialism has even appeared in response to this phenomenon when someone wishes to find something most perceive to be unobtainable: 'If that's what you're looking for, odds are it's probably on Feros. See you in the next cycle.'

Despite all this, in 2178, the human ExoGeni Corporation announced its intention to place a permanent colony on Feros, to more thoroughly explore the ruins, to the puzzlement of many. Ignoring the projected losses by several hundred different financiers, pioneer settlement was placed on the upper levels of the remaining intact skyscrapers, using the surviving Prothean aqueducts and rooftop hydroponics gardens to support the population. The success of the Human corporation's colony is marginal, currently residing at a measly population of 300, and some have rumored that Exogeni has stumbled on to the next big find. One it's decidedly keeping to itself. Efforts to properly investigate the colony and make Exogeni's reports on Feros public have been largely ignored by the Systems Alliance.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Oh joy, it's the Second Anniversary of the Neverending Story! As a celebration of this monumental landmark in this journey, and as a way to reward all of you who've faithfully decided to stick it with us through thick and thin, I've decided to release another chapter! Lucky you reader!

And it seems it didn't take long before our silly Shield had already gotten himself tangled up in the next big plot of interstellar intrigue! Who are these organized criminals Old Man Quarian hinted at? Why did C-Sec coppers just try to riddle our gang? And are Zael and Shield's increasing displays of belligerent sexual tension actually beginning to develop into some sort of vitriolic friendship before our very eyes?! Hell, I ship it!

And there's only one way to find out!

I'll see you all in a year!

**In the Next Chapter: Что новенького Скуби Ду?**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	36. Loners tend to Leave Little

The room was dark as I got up. And I didn't like it, I didn't like being alone in it, so I decided to leave it. I opened the door and exited it, finding myself in a dark hallway, and upon hearing noise from below, I began to walk toward the stairwell at its end. The noise grew louder as I neared, and a large racket began to overwhelm my sensations as I reached it. Grimacing, I briskly walked down the steps into the basement below.

Which suddenly came to life before my eyes as strobe lights hit my face, blinding me, music blaring over the speakers on the party floor to further disorient me. People danced, someone yelled, drinks were spilled, my wrist was grabbed as a friend passed by, hollering at me to help him hit up the two biddies outside. But...I already knew.

The brisk air of the house's backyard did little to convince me otherwise. Neither did the girl who slapped my back and pass me her drink as she went inside behind me. The guys yelling at each other angrily in the yard across from us met the same resolution. I ignored that my friend tugged my wrist, gripping his stomach now, gently letting go as he fell to the ground.

The next breeze that hit my face was not brisk at all, but rather wet, humid, and freezing, causing me to shield my face, shy away. But the mud beneath my feet fastened them in place, refusing to let me go back inside. The belligerent shouting of the two across from me now seemed to devolve into terrified screams as decrepit buildings toppled behind him. The mud was up to my hips now, and the howling around me heightened to a climax as a shadow above threatened to engulf us all. But I already knew. A shrill cry. A shriek. A sharp-pitched sound erupted from above that made my blood run cold and hair stand on in and mouth run dry. I couldn't feel my extremities anymore. As the mud fully engulfed me, pressing against my lips, up my nose, aggravating my eyes as it enveloped me, I looked up toward the dark sky, only to see nothing.

But this was all just a-

It was a deafening scream.

I shut my eyes when the sound assaulted my ears, the unpleasant cacophony that came after it sounding like nails being dragged along a chalkboard. Immediately after I shut them, textures, shapes, images, pictures, scenes, worlds flitted by one after another. The incoherent chattering/screams of long forgotten races accompanied them. The chaotic nature of the message pervaded my brain, snaked through my every thought. The sounds and images slithering through my head were too much, and I screamed in horror only to find no sound leave my mouth.

Two yellow stars.

A blood red backdrop.

Two black worlds.

And then...it.

It emerged from the dark. Dripping with ichor.

It's eyes were malice. It's eyes were hate. It's eyes were resent. Resentful of me. The eyes.

...and I had to ask.

...Why?

...Why me?

* * *

**Time.**

**Space.**

**The Void.**

**Things that which have no end, but which also have no beginning.**

**Reality.**

**Fiction.**

**What exists and what does not? What are each and all but just a single part of a greater whole. One that marries both in acceptance that they just simply are? What one perceives to be true and what one perceives to be false means nothing if one cannot be compared to another. My head spins, and continues to spin as it has for eons. I can no longer see that of which envelops me, as my vision continues to blur into darkness.**

**It fared no better below, with my lower half practically lead, both extremities refusing to move as if they were chained to the ground, impossibly heavy, weighed down even further by what remains of my broken psyche. At this point, they could be classified as nothing other than immovable objects, with even God himself being unable to coax them from their state. But that was false, for I knew...**

**Another form touches mine, placing itself upon my shoulder, causing my existence to shake in its presence. And at the same time, with my concentration finally broken, my body loses its power to go on. I can already feel the last vestiges of consciousness being pushed from my decrepit frame. My knees first give out, followed by my legs, and then, lastly, my body. I quickly collapse. Defeated. Simply and utterly, defeated. Forced to bow. And as I alone, lay there, drifting away from my mortal coil, I knew that the task most paramount to success, the one entrusted solely to me...would remain forever uncompleted. Forever undone. Forever a testament to my failure. It was wrong. **

**But it couldn't be. **

**It HAD to be completed.**

**It caused me to ask. What's real? What's not? The very questions that plague every instance of sentient life since the dawn of their existence. And questions that will continue to do just that for the remainder of their lives. However...in the end...do these questions even warrant answers? Does one even need explanation for them? Do we need answers to justify that we just simply...exist? That we simply...are?**

**For me alone...I, above everyone else, know.**

**And my burdens became mine once again.**

**I would correct the course.**

* * *

I lazily opened my eyes as it ended.

I admitted to myself that I had known it from the start. I had to admit I knew from the very first one what they were. What I was seeing. But in retrospect, no, let me backtrack. I didn't. That was my mistake. I thought I knew what they were. But after this...it was obvious they were different after all. The only genuine vision I had was at the beacon.

The rest that followed...they were something else entirely. And I always wondered what the significance of them were. Why did they show me, or rather, taunt me with what I was missing in my own world? Every one of them had synced up with the time lapse, this one only reinforcing it. A party would mean I was back at school. Weeks had passed since the last one, so it was fair to see that I had been back in school for weeks too. But why was I shown what occurred here and in what should be my own reality.

What the transition between my normal livelihood and its abstract theme of becoming lost and swallowed and disappearing into nothing had to do with anything too. Why I was having them in the first place. I could only blame it all on the beacon but...I knew this third one would be the last. But I have no explanation as to why I would possibly think or know that either.

The first one I barely even remember. I think immediately after I woke that I realized that I had accepted things as they were. Too easily in fact. I thought it was just my ability to adapt well but...maybe not? Was I just pretending things were not as heavy as they were? And that second one...I remember that one had hit me hard. Made me realize I had really lost my family. Who I was. It made me realize I was trapped here.

But this one...compared to those, I don't really feel anything. Which is kind of frightening. I didn't feel any emotion about it at all. I mean right now...why I am thinking like this? Why am I so calm? What did I just dream about?

_...what's that?_

My ears now picked up faint sounds coming from outside the room. I frowned however upon rising from bed. Largely due to the fact that I didn't recognize the setting around me. At all. The plain, cracked walls. The foreign knick-knacks strewn about its shelves. It was completely alien to me. And now I had to wonder again...if I'm still dreaming.

The noise quickly died down as I calmly waited for something else to occur. Because something was going to happen for sure. Something big. I could just feel it-

The racket returned now in force, just like I had predicted. A large commotion was going on outside the room as voices both feminine and masculine erupted outside in heated debate.

And that was it. I resolved to get out of bed and find out where and what the hell was-

And then someone burst inside my room, its curtain sent flying aside as she entered, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to muffle her sobbing. I immediately got out of bed in response, approaching her, gingerly placing a hand on her heaving shoulder to console her.

"Hey. Hey, it's alright."

I moved my arms down to wrap around her as she moved her muzzle into my shoulder next, holding herself pitifully, heaving, breaking down into my shirt.

"Al, he...I...it's my...it's my-"

I took her gently to the bed, sitting her down.

"It's going to be alright."

"...he...he-"

"I'll take care of it."

"Al...wait-"

But I had already left her side as I remembered where I was. I had already tossed the curtain aside as I exited the Old Man's bedroom, entering the scene that had been responsible for all that arguing from before. And the eyes of the apartment room's occupants all turned to me.

"You-"

"No, he had nothing to do with it."

The steel-colored Turian was immediately cut off by Nar Tasi, who looked more weary than possible beyond his faded mask. And the Turian took that as the last insult.

"This won't stand. It won't go on any longer. I won't allow it. I'll show you that your wrong Tasi. I'll bring honor to Zaetor's memory, you can be sure of it."

The Turian rose from his seat, moving like a violent storm, quickly exiting the Old Man's complex, followed by three others who had been seated nearby. And after their departure, a weathered Asari was left sitting next to the withered Quarian, both now gazing absently at his table.

I then noticed the presence of one other in the room that I had missed. They were laying down, blanket covering them. My teeth grit together as I spurred myself toward it.

I thought one of them would object, would at least say something, anything about it, but they didn't, didn't even make a move to stop me as I approached. And as I wordlessly kneeled to pick the sheet off it-

I stared hard at the face it was hiding before quickly releasing the blanket. As it fell back to the ground, I could only manage to whisper-

"What happened."

My question was met with silence, as neither spoke.

"FUCK!"

In a fit, I struck my fist against the wall, furious that they refused to answer.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Most likely because they didn't want to answer. Didn't want to acknowledge it. They were simply put, cowards.

I had turned back around now to stare them down, and the Asari now excused herself from the room, unable to take it, leaving me alone with the Old Quarian.

"Who did it. Who did that?!"

A grey-skinned Turian suddenly entered the room not a moment after the Asari had left, eyeing Nar Tasi before turning his attention to me, and then toward the blanketed person behind me. His red tattoos bobbed with his lips as he next spoke to no one in particular. "They really did it huh?" His gaze was then caught by something on the table, a noticeable figurine that I had first noticed upon entering as well. It was in bad shape, broken into several emerald pieces. And the Turian only smiled when he saw it. "That belonged to the Salarra's didn't it?"

"It did," the old man finally croaked.

"...Is that the reason he died?"

The old man sat still, gazing at the table's centerpiece, before subtly bobbing his head.

"He was a good kid."

"What Happened."

He turned to me now, red eyes narrowing sharply. "Your kind happened Human. It's all anyone in the Abode can talk about right now. How the son of Zaetor was brutally murdered by apes-"

"I don't need those hateful words in my home!" Nar Tasi suddenly erupted, eyes furious. "Leave if you are here to accost MY guests in MY home!"

"Who were they. Why."

"From what I heard, the Humans had been waiting from him. He had slipped away from Leena to retrieve what he had apparently dropped the other day while you two were on your grand chase from the law-"

That's what the sound had been-

"-And in the time we had been sorting out what had happened, they had already found where he had dropped it, had apparently waited patiently in the corridor for him to return for it, and then proceeded to make their statement. And lo and behold, that's exactly what he did."

"I don't want to hear this anymore. If you just came here to gawk at him, you can LEAVE-"

"They beat him, punctured his suit, tortured him, beat him some more, and then destroyed the only thing he wanted in the first place." He motioned to the shattered idol. "And once he was broken, oh, then they were done. Then they finally killed him. You Humans did that to him. You really all are a cruel race, aren't you? They must have waited for hours for him to return, you know that? Just waited...waiting so they could savagely beat a young boy to death."

"Who are they."

"You will not. You have no stake in this Marauder-"

"Haha, the Tenth Street Reds. Who else? Their little gang moved in here naught months ago, and from the very start, tried their darnedest to destroy our little community. Extorted our businesses, turned our district into a haven of crime, and quite boldly got rid of anyone who spoke up about it. You have to be yanking my mandible-"

And that name rung in my head. I knew that name. I had heard it the first day I met Zael.

"Where are they."

"Where are they? Haha, where aren't they you dolt. They're in the shops, they're in the streets, they're in the Citadel's security force. Just turn your head and look at the nearest Human next to you. Odds are, you'll find one."

"I meant specifically. They have to have a meeting place."

The Turian guffawed. "Yeah, here you go." He typed into his omni-tool and then waved it in the air. Mine chirped upon receiving the coordinates. "How'd I just know you'd have one? Humans really do have everything don't they?"

"OUT!" Nar Tasi was vehement now. "LEAVE!"

The crimson tattooed Turian frowned before turning to do just that. "Say hi to your friends for me."

The old man threw the nearest vanity after the Turian, which could be heard shortly after shattering outside.

I made to follow the Turian.

"Marauder I forbid you from leaving! You're still in debt to me for treating your wounds the other night-"

I quickly checked my omni-tool to finally affirm my suspicions. I had slept for more than half the day upon seeing its chronometer. It would be getting dark soon. And I had missed work.

"-and, y-yes, you can't have forgotten that you are still in debt to me for finding you room and board here, your new occupation, your new livelihood! You are not to leave! I forbid it! What happened is of no concern to you. You...you didn't even know him! Don't do this out of some misguided attempt to feign empathy! You can't, the dead don't-"

"You're right," I could only respond coldly, stopping him there. "You're right, I didn't know him. But to be completely blunt with ya, I couldn't care less about him. I mean, I only knew him for three days. I couldn't care about any of you to be honest. No offense. So tell me...why would I care about anything you've done for me up to this point?"

The Old Man was at a loss for words now.

"...Marauder...don't throw away your life for him. Listen to me please. You must live. To carry on his-"

"I wanna tell you something Old Man." I approached the table now, eyeing him coldly. "That's not my name. Marauder Shield isn't. Even. My Name. Wanna know my real name? I'm sorry, I don't remember my real name. I don't even remember where I'm from in fact. Nor do I remember who I am. Nor do I know how I ended up like this. I must admit I also have no family. I have no friends. I have no memory of what I am or again, what I've done up to this point in my life. The few I have met have decided to discard me like the trash I am and informed me that I'm never welcome in their company again. The one reason I had for even being here. So tell me. You're an intelligent man. Can you in good conscience tell me someone like that is even living. Are they even alive?"

"...you don't know what you speak of."

"Without any of that, that'd person be a ghost. Transient. I have no reason for 'living' here anymore. If I were to die today, no one would even notice-"

"I would!" the Quarian grew belligerent. "Leena would! I've lived three times of your span so don't you dare lecture me! Your arrogance comes from your youth! Do you even know what the name Nar Tasi means?! Crew of no one! When I was banished from the Flotilla, I lost everything I held dear! And I was exactly that! NO ONE! I lost my family, I lost my ship, I lost my people, and I lost my name! But I have lived on. Yes, I struggled. But I have lived on. Instead of being weak, I moved on. And now there isn't a soul here that would even dare to say that I never existed! I bear the title of Nar Tasi with pride now, because it reminds me of my origins. That I have come from a child of no one to a father of many. And that future could be yours too. ANY possibility could be yours from this moment on. But you have to-"

"Huh. Does one of those futures include him?"

I motioned to the blanket.

"..."

"What you said might be true. No, I'm being arrogant. You're right. Entirely right. Everyone has the possibility of a better future. Or at least, A future. But if there was a possibility of changing all that...the opportunity to reach a future you couldn't possibly have access to...don't tell me you wouldn't choose the former over the latter. That you'd rather be a penniless life line and slave to a bunch of uneducated drug addicts and dirty hobos than an esteemed and respected Captain of a live ship back in the Flotilla, responsible for thousands instead of a few insignificant hundred."

That was cruel.

"You have the life you are given Marauder. You cannot change the past. You can only move forward-"

"For anyone else. But for me...that may not be true. And after hearing your words, you've finally convinced me. I'm finally willing to find out for sure. So I thank you for that."

"MARAUDER!"

As I left, I knew it was finally time to test out that absurd theory that had almost played out on Noveria. That of the clichéd Reset. If I was truly special, and if this was all just a game, or some fucked up VR, I'd soon know. Not before taking as many of those bastards with me though. Just for kicks. Well, either that would happen or I'd just die a horrible death in a seedy slum that no one would even know of. But hey, you can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs. Or whatever.

So goodbye Shitadel, it was nice knowin' ya.

This is the last time I ever plan to see this dump again.

...

...

...Sorry Leena.

...Sorry Old Man.

* * *

The coordinates that asshole Turian gave me brought me to a club. A large one. It was still located in the district of Manash, still shouldered by the dozens of dilapidated buildings nearby. But it looked completely new. A place certainly made to draw attention to its inhabitants. Let people know they were people of import. The apparent meeting place of the district's local mob. The Tenth Street Reds.

I crossed the street and rapped on the door several times before an old-fashioned shutter was slid open level with my eyes.

"Vhat's the word."

"Forgot."

"Haha...you fuckin' new guys. I'll remember your face. Next time you forget, you can forget ever coming back."

The door opened with a creak and the scruffy looking shit stain of a person that opened it muttered the word "Volgograd," as I entered.

* * *

Le Castle Vania - LED Spirals (Extended Version) [Do yourself a favor and have it play on youtuberepeat]

* * *

The club was dark, and its strobes did little to illuminate it. The music's bass was loud, in poor taste, and did little to help the feel that this place was anything but dead. The oblong bar island in the center of the room had more bottles than you could count strewn across its counter top. Several individuals were slumped on stools atop it too, unconscious or on the verge of it because of tweaking from the least I could tell. And to the sides of the room were half a dozen booths, hosting what I assumed to be various members of the Reds.

"The boss here?"

"Yeah," the idiot behind me decided to affirm, pointing toward a booth in the back corner of the club. It was almost too easy.

No, it was in fact, unreal.

Without any opposition, he let me stride across the floor and around the oblong bar at the club's center toward the table he had motioned. I tightened my fists as I finished rounding the counter, gaze already set on the table I had been pointed to. It was really this easy. The people who had terrorized the aliens here were really this stupid. It was almost comedic. Comedic that they had gotten as bad as they have around here.

And as I came to a stop, several feet away from the table, its occupant's eyes now turned toward me. The bass thrummed as their faces showed me indifference. I counted four that currently sat at it. The one on the far left of the semi-circular booth was one I immediately recognized.

The garbage I had met the very first day I ran into the Quarian. The puke green shirt, baggy leather pants, scruffy looking stubble on his chin. My anger immediately welled upon just looking at him. I still remembered his name from that day. Next to him was a thick girl with auburn hair, clad in an orange sweatshirt, and from what I could tell, was also sporting a 22nd century version of google glasses.

On the other end of the booth was what looked like a hooker, face clearly layered in enough make-up to make them look like a clown, and bright orange hair that reminded me of a tangerine. A deep purple crop top matched her eyeliner.

Both females had their arms lazily wrapped around the man sitting at the booth's center, face clearly bored. The blonde was wearing a blue and orange sports jacket, white shirt beneath it, and in clear contrast to the other male at the table, face was clean shaved, not a single mar to its name. His cold, empty, blue eyes fixated on me as I stood there, hands balled into fists, brows narrowed, looking at me like a bored predator, watching prey not worth half-its time.

"What do you want friend?"

Then the one named Motty's eyes suddenly sprung wide, shooting up from his seat, apparently recognizing now who I was from our run-in days before. "Fyod, this is the khuy I told you about who stuck us up back behind Kranod's!"

"Really?" he said apathetically, shifting in his seat.

"The one that protected that suit-"

"You're the one in charge of the reds?"

"Yah," Fyod replied. "Who are you?"

In response, I then reached into the back of my pants, raising the brow of several people at the table, before pulling my gun out, and pointing it in his direction.

"Your end."

I had to at least throw out a one-liner. Every story needs to end with one of those.

The girl's eyed me like I was the insane husk I was now, while Motty merely looked at me in shock. I also heard a click or two further away behind me. This was it.

Fyod narrowed his eyes in response. Peering into the gaze of the man that was about to kill him. He stood there adamant, looking every bit like the two-bit fuck he-

"BAHAHAHAHA!"

The laughter unnerved me, causing me to take a step back, finger immediately tightening the trigger, while the other three at the table now looked at their leader like he was insane. Is insane. He now clapped his hands in an exaggerated matter, wretching from the laughter. '

"What are you doing."

"Oh ah ha ha ha, ohhhh you pizdá! I really missed you ya know? I almost didn't recognize ya! That was a good one, really pulled one over on this suka here." The man continued to laugh as Motty looked at him perturbed. "Stick a gun in his face, waving it around to scare the shit out of him? Walk into the middle of this place and do the same to me? HAHAhahaha-"

"...what...what's going on?"

"Yeah. Good question." I thought as my hand remained trained on the lunatic called Fyod, completely still.

"Oh ha ha...haaaa. Let me introduce him to you all. I mean, I've almost forgot myself. It's been a long time since we last saw each other hasn't it?"

I glanced over my shoulder as long as I dared before returning to stare down Fyod. "What are you talking about."

"Oh, haha, classic lev, always with the jokes." He turned to his filth-ridden acquaintance. "He's an old member. From the good ol' days. The Infamous Lev of the Reds, Alexei! How many years has it been lev? I can't even remember."

"I think you have me mistaken," I replied coldly. "I'm not your friend."

"I know it's been awhile, but there's no need to be like that!" he replied laughing. He motioned to someone behind. "Bring a drink for our friend-"

"Are you the ones who killed that Quarian child today."

His brevity now faltered, laughter dying down, raising a brow at me. "What? ...you mean the suit rat? No, no that was you wasn't it Motty? You and Georgio's men?"

"Yeah that was me. We got that lil' bastard real good after the trouble he gave us. Should have seen him after we were done with him. Georgio really laid into that little suit-rat for what he did to his face. We were just going to leave him there, but he was real bad, and so being the nice guy I am, I-"

"What are you doing?" Fyod said as I turned my gun toward Motty and pulled the trigger.

I was met with a hiss, as the gun refused to fire, chamber jamming, merely emptying out a heat sink onto the bar's floor in response.

"Did...did you just try to shoot him?" Fyod asked, disturbingly nonchalant. Motty's eyes were split wide open, mouth ajar, face a mix of disgust and fear. "...hm, maybe I was mistaken." A Raikou was now in his hand, pointed in my direction. His blue irises were emotionless as they stared at me, devoid of anything remotely Human. "You're from that ghetto aren't you? Here about that Quarian you were just asking about huh? Do you know how many of you stupid blyáds have tried to come into this house and take 'revenge' for those they 'lost'? Fuck." He shook his head. "I really thought you were lev. It's been awhile, but I swear, you look JUST like him." He now glared at me with scorn. "Always looking at us exactly the way you're looking at me right now...like he was somehow better than the rest of us. Better than me. Like we were beneath him. Oh, it infuriates me just thinking about it. I mean, you're exactly how I'd picture he'd be ten years from now. It's spooky. Ah, but, you know what? I guess-"

The cacophony that suddenly erupted from the entrance to the Red's hangout wrenched our attention away from each other. The clattering of the steel door being knocked off its hinges had garnered everyone's attention in fact.

Fyod wasted no time in firing his Raikou in the Elcor's direction, as did several other members of the gang that had their guns out in the room. The Elcor suddenly grasped the bouncer standing beside him, in one of his giant vice-like hands, and with a loud bellow, subsequently tossed the man clear across the room, over my head, and nailed Fyod, causing him to topple over the booth.

I stood there in shock as Turians started pouring into the club in the Elcor's wake, letting out cries at the top of their lungs, brandishing make-shift weapons that would embarrass a mob in the 17th century-

"QB-2V2, get 'em!"

I turned back toward the booth before me just in time to witness a Fenris mech suddenly shoot out from underneath the table. The hulking mech immediately charged in my direction, cybernetic screen bright red and dead set on me. I immediately backpedaled, leveling my gun with it, discharging rounds at its head in response. I hit the countertop of the bar behind me as the thing finally sputtered dead two seconds later, head sliding to my feet, the light of its digital screen flickering to an end.

How I hadn't seen it before when I approached them, I had no idea. But as gunfire continued to break out in the club around me, people screaming, glass breaking, bass still pumping, I decided to take advantage of the chaos as best I could when I saw Motty now charging head down in my direction.

Adrenaline Rush.

And my body hit the floor after nothing happened, gun flying out of my hand upon impact by rule of drama after he had tackled me.

I immediately heaved the bastard off me in response before he had a chance to do anything and flipped around, reaching out for my gun. But it was too far. Before I could even think of what to do next, he grabbed me by the throat in both hands, dragged me up, back to my feet, and slammed my head against the bar's counter top.

"You fuckin' xenophile! You were distracting us weren't you?! You-"

My hands were knocked away from his as my head was smashed against the bar again, upon which my right brushed against something solid. In response to his words, I decided to grab the object and subsequently smash the glass bottle across Motty's face. He immediately let go in response, howling in pain. I then shoved him off me with several pounds of muscle and dove back to my left, to get back my gun-

Which I noticed was now already in the hands of another Red several feet away, currently wrestling with a Turian. Only a moment had passed before it went off once and the Turian's eyes lost their-

"GhRK!"

The arm shot around my neck and began crushing it, abnormally strong for being so slim. I gurgled as the mauve sleeve doubled up, choke hold only tightening further as I tried to pry them off me.

"Ghkf-grk-gafljgh-"

My eyes bulged as they continued to strangle me, and in attempt to get them off, shaking my head wildly, I noticed to my left that another Red was now running at me from across the room, across the mayhem, knife in hand.

With inhuman strength, I roared, bending down, grabbing the legs of the person behind me and lifted them up, surprised to find them abnormally light. I then backpedaled away from the man chasing me, only stopping once I rammed my assailant as hard as I could against the wall behind us. She let out a gasp as I did, and I took in a breath of fresh air as the knife-wielding lunatic now lunged for my gut.

I twisted my body out of the way as his knife shot past where I had just been, clanging against the wall. I in turn let go of the legs I had been holding and instead chose to grasp that left arm of his holding the knife tightly. Then in one fluid motion I sent a knee to his gut causing him to double over, yanked out his arm with my left, cocked my right, and smashed my fist against the back of his elbow. He howled in pain as I did and dropped the knife, upon which I then followed it all up by smashing his head against the establishment's steel wall.

I dropped to the ground as the woman previously choking me resumed doing so however, having already recovered from her brief shock. Can't believe I forgot about that. Unfortunately for her, the knife was already in my hand before I knew what happened and now embedded itself into the attacker behind me. She immediately let go with a scream as the knife grossly stuck out of her shoulder, and now free, I flipped her over my shoulder and socked her in the face for good measure. I had a moment to register what I had just done to the woman caked in tacky eye shadow before I glanced across the floor.

Which is where I saw him. A mustachioed man with a bandaged eye that I had just seen for the first time in my life naught a day ago. The man who had started this whole chain of events and was most likely the man named Georgio mentioned earlier. The one the Quarian had stole from just the other day.

I didn't care about the Quarian. I didn't. He was in and out of my life before I had time to even blink.

I was striding toward him now, ignoring the shouts and bloody murder going on around me as the music continued to blare.

He might has well not have existed at all. How could I care for someone that only existed for less than a blink? How did he even matter in the grand scheme of things? Compared to everything else-

Out of my peripheries I saw it coming, and I ducked as the pipe whistled over my head. I then bounced back toward the bar behind me.

"HEY, we're on the same side!"

The Turian unfortunately just saw the Human in front of him and swung the pipe again. In turn, I ducked again as it sloppily flew by, and then rammed my head into his mid-riff as hard as I could, forcing an 'oof' to escape his lips. I then shot my head upward, headbutting his chin. But as I made to slug him with my right, he had already dropped his pipe and grabbed my hand in his own. Then mimicked the movement on my left. Before either of us could move next however, he spit blood onto my face, and he quickly went limp as Georgio pulled his knife out from the base of his fringe.

"You're velcome."

Our eyes met, and before he knew what had happened, I had kicked out his leg, wrenched the shiv out of his hands, plunged it into his remaining good eye, and then socked him for good measure as he begun to scream. He hit the floor unconscious, and in a split second decision, I then decided to spit on him. And then I turned away from the fat fuck upon realizing.

Realizing he wasn't truly the one that had done it as the adrenaline coursing through me winded down. I had just heard the confession of who had minutes earlier. I then turned back toward the spot they had dropped to the floor. Only to find they were already gone.

"Fuck."

I wiped the blue blood of the Turian off my face as I now searched the club for him wildly, eyes flitting across the room as people were still fighting for their lives. Fights like this didn't end soon. Brawls like this took time. Apparently. And more people were spilling into the building still. Latecomers from the Abode. Reinforcements for the Reds. Out the unhinged door, I could hear a gunfight now going on outside in the streets. Then someone went sailing past my face into the bar and I leapt back in response. Probably the Elcor again. A real hard ass if he was still alive and kicking after that very first volley of gunfire-

I saw him as he saw me. His face was bloody, still cut up by thousands of shards from the handle of alcohol I had smashed against his face. And his gaze told me he was out for my blood.

Motty dropped the Salarian's head and oriented his body toward me as I quickly begun approaching him, darting across the room toward him, failing to notice the broken bottle he was now holding up toward me. Oh shit.

He slashed wildly causing me to immediately pivot and jump backwards when I was only feet away, stopping my march forward, with my eyes going wide as the glass started whistling through the air as he cut at me again. I could only do this for so long-

I couldn't dodge the third one. It slashed through my uniform and drew blood. But my hand shot up to grab his as it had tried to sail past. And I then followed it up with a kick to his stomach as hard as I could. And then I kicked again when he didn't let go.

And then once more when he still refused. That time he let go. The bottle shot out from his hand as I sent him backwards, doubled over in pain. But before I could follow up, I felt something strike the back of my head.

I immediately sent an elbow backward in response when it failed to have the effect intended. She grunted as it connected with her face, staggering backward, bent over, nose bloody, glasses shattered upon impact. I then quickly followed the attack with a sock to the girl's face, one that I now recognized from the booth earlier. She then dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Vera!"

Realizing my current situation, I quickly turned back around to face Motty.

Only instead, my face met his fist. Dazed, I reflexively blocked the next punch out of instinct.

What instinct.

After that failed, he immediately followed up by trying to tackle me to the floor like before. Tried anyway. His head slammed into my body, but I had already splayed my legs preventing the takedown, next wrapping my arms around his neck as he tried to wrestle me down. And as he clawed at my arms wrapped around his head, I sent a knee to his doubled over body. The blow stunned him, and I quickly took one step to the side of him, still grasping his neck in a hold with my left arm but freeing the other.

Whereupon I then proceeded to start mollywhopping him.

My right met his face again and again as he tried to wrestle out of my hold, but it was already useless. It was already over for him at that point. His fate was sealed. My fist went under and over and under and over again and again and again, just busting up every part of his face it could find. My fist became bloody, not from his blood, but from the glass shards still embedded in it. It stung as I brought it in again and again. But I didn't care. I felt him go limp in my arms after just the first few slugs, but I continued to wail on his face long after just to be sure.

And as I was about to do so again, fist colored red, knuckles stinging, eyes blurred by sweat...it was sweat wasn't it...I stopped myself. I saw that his face was now bloody and purple. Eyes shut close by the swelling from the beating. Glass still strewn across the face from what I had done to it earlier, shards sticking out of it every which way. And for an instant, instead of Motty...

For an instant I saw Zael.

His face had been broken and bruised, swelling unnaturally, pierced by hundreds of pieces of glass that had been from his shattered mask's visor. I hadn't been able to stomach seeing it then. It had instead infuriated me. I couldn't see anything else but that face for the last few hours. But now...the thought of it just made me sick.

Another gun shot rang out over the bass of the club.

Then I registered that it had been particularly directed at me as it ripped through my left shoulder.

I screamed in pain, dropping the unconscious thug to the floor as blood sprayed out from the gunshot wound, sending me staggering backwards.

I then looked toward the shooter, who was now currently grappling with a Turian. One that I recognized had been in Old Man Quarian's home. And a second too late to stop him apparently. The alien immediately attempted to shank the shooter, but his hand was blocked by the gun, where he was then subsequently headbutted, and then finished with a shot through the eye. Despite the graphic act, his killer then turned toward me with a smile, face covered in blue, grinning like a fucking lunatic.

But instead of being yards away from him, I was now inches.

Next thing I knew, I saw stars.

I lashed out wildly, out of blind fear, and connected with something immediately.

I then blinked again, vision already recovered, right in time to see Fyod pistol whip my face.

I grabbed out for it as he did, head split open, vision sputtering, and in blind luck, felt my hand grip something. In one move, I flung him over my shoulder before I met the same fate as the Turian beside me. A shot went off, deafening me, causing me to yell as I dropped myself on top of him next.

Vision still swimming, ear drum throbbing, clothes damp with sweat, I doubled my grasp on the hand holding gun, instinctively bashing it once as hard as I could against the floor, causing his hand to release it and sending the Raikou scattering away.

He grabbed at my neck, and I quickly rolled off him, pushing away, stumbling back up, blinking furiously while trying to recover my wits. My efforts got me a powerful kick to my midriff.

He immediately followed with another kick aimed at my leg, and I quickly blocked it by raising my own. I then ducked under the following hook coming from his left, where I was immediately met with an uppercut from his right. Everything went white for a moment. But I bared my teeth, came back to, sending the next punch flying aside inches before my eyes, and then struck his face with a follow-up from my left. My shoulder screamed out in pain as I did, cursing me.

But I refused to let up. My foot quickly knocked his aside before the next volley, causing him to lose his stance in surprise, and at the same time, I sent another cross with mu right, flying toward his head unhindered that he was now completely unprepared for it.

He reeled backwards, creating distance between us, sending out a hook in case I had pursued him. But I panted heavily where I was, blood and sweat dripping down my forehead, cheek cut and swollen, left shoulder burning like a brand. My right bicep was bleeding, but I felt no pain there.

Fyod looked worse, eye already black, still covered in blue from the Turian, shirt no longer white but bright red. He gave a grin as he suddenly lunged back in.

He blocked my counter and then struck my throat with a cuff, causing me to choke. I couldn't breathe. And then I felt myself soar over his shoulder, head and body slamming against the ground. The club bass was inaudible now over my gasping.

Next thing I knew, he was atop me, straddling me, and I realized what this was. I subsequently spit blood as he struck my face. And then again as he crossed with the opposite fist. I tried to buck him off, but he had too much control. I feebly brought my hands up to protect my face as the next blows came. So instead, he then struck the side of my head in response, causing me to black out.

no-

I came to just as another blow came across my arm, causing pain to shoot up my left shoulder. I lay there on my back, arms taut, as he continued to beat me senseless. I couldn't see out of my right eye anymore.

No-

He was vicious, brutally raining blow after blow now on my head. Relentless. He was relentless. I felt an elbow slam against the arms currently covering my face. I yelled as his knuckles were brought down on my wrist next, feeling like it had just snapped because of it.

NO-

Fyod blows were getting more and more ferocious, beating away what little sense I had left. Out from under my battered arms, I then saw him cock his arm. The next explosion of strikes would be it.

NOT HERE DAMMIT-

I subsequently abandoned my defense, exposing my face to his onslaught. And while doing so, raised my fist in turn, and sent it in toward his groin. His next punch fell flat as he doubled over in pain from the dick punch. I then bucked him off me and began scrambling to the gun that was currently laying under the table in front of me.

And then I realized my mistake. I felt him jump on my back, his python immediately wrap around my throat, squeezing too tight for me to think. I gagged for air as he placed his left hand on his elbow, pressuring my trachea so hard now that it felt like it was going to be simply crushed.

This is it.

I reached out for the gun still yards away before I felt myself begin to convulse. My ears began to ring.

It was...

"You can die here with all the rest you alien fucker-"

...no...it wasn't...it wasn't a good run-

I felt my face turning purple as it was deprived of oxygen, trachea crushed in by his biceps. The ringing was getting louder.

-I...I don't want to die here!

"I swear to the Maker, I'm just gonna kill every Quarian I see after this," he muttered into my ear as he continued strangling me.

...

I finally let my hands drop from the arm wrapped around my neck.

"NO ONE FUCKS WITH THE TENTH STREET REDS-"

And then snatched one of the fingers pressed against his elbow, bending it back as far as I could. A pop could be heard as it was subsequently wrenched from its socket.

"ARGH-"

REVERSE HEADBUTT.

I smashed the back of my head into his face, gasping buckets of air as he released his grip, the noise in my ears now at its peak. I then dove forward, now free, and snatched the pistol out from beneath the table of the booth. Which, contrary to what I had thought, turned out to actually be mine.

What luck.

I then flipped over in time to see the fuck leaping at me. I shot once before he collided with me.

I then shoved him off me before more of his blood stained my only shirt. The ringing in my ears was still unceasing and still annoying however, keeping me from even attempting to think straight.

But Fyod was practically limp when I had shoved him off, and as I now crouched over his prone body, shoving the gun in his face, he simply stared back at me emotionless. His crystal blue eyes still looked empty now, just as they had when I had first come in. He opened his mouth, lips cut and swollen, simply saying-

"Get on with it."

Staring at Fyod's face...that ugly ass face...that twisted, ugly ass face...that busted up, bloody and blackened, twisted ugly ass face...

"SPECIAL RESPONSE IS HERE! EVERYONE SCRAM!"

I couldn't do it. I just couldn't fucking do it. And he soon realized it too.

"Heh...it's been so long but...I still recognize that look." He sneered. "That fucking look. You are lev aren't you. Why'd you come back lev? What were you even after?"

I stared at him absentmindedly as the words left my lips.

"My name's Shield. You...fuck."

I smashed his face with the butt of the Predator before quickly pushing myself off.

"EVERYONE FREEZE."

"Emphatically: You'll never take me alive."

I looked on as the Elcor suddenly galloped past me followed by several other Turians. I got up and mindlessly took after them, running toward the back door they were apparently aiming for.

Several other Reds were already clamoring down the alleyway as we exited it.

"WE SAID FREEZE!"

It was dusk outside, the lights powering the district were dim, the back alley darkened by the shadows cast by the neighboring buildings. Save for the lights of the C-Sec sky car at the end of it.

"You are all under arrest. Drop your weapons and put your hands-"

The Elcor suddenly charged ahead, ignoring their demands, knocking aside two gang members before him as he did. Instead of open-firing however, the two officers wisely ducked out of the way as the Elcor subsequently barreled through the car, actually flipping it over.

"With resolve: To Freedom."

The rest of the people still not caught by the fuzz now pounded the pavement with their feet, taking off, away from the building now being blockaded. The ringing that had been in my ears grew even louder as multiple C-Sec cars zoomed over heard, lights flashing, their annoying sirens blaring.

I chose the alleyway across from us as gunfire immediately erupted around me. And I didn't look behind me as I continued to run. I didn't want to. I continued to sprint down the corridor, planned to as long as I was able, ringing still growing stronger as Citadel Security continued to fly overhead, locking down the district around me.

I passed an open avenue while headed to the next back street across from me, were I immediately saw a raid occurring, squad cars still flitting above the sky inundating the air with their sirens. They weren't just here for the club. They were apparently locking down the entire neighborhood.

I booked it even harder, ignoring every single demand of my body to stop.

I continued to hurtle down those corridors, past red sand addicts rendered unconscious, past Keepers attending to empty space, past mountains of trash and refuse that's stench almost forced me to collapse on the spot.

But I was going to just keep running.

Nothing was going to stop me

Because that's all I could do.

Run from things.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Manash Riots of '83**

Today, chaos struck the Manash district of Kithoi Ward as gun fire and looting broke out over its streets.

Officer Brent Lebedev was reportedly at an apartment office building with two other officers in the district when they spotted who they believed was famous political dissident Faeus Camdus accompanied by several dozen of his followers marching on a location known to be frequented commonly by Humans. They called for back-up once gunfire broke out, which resulted shortly after Camdus and his followers had trespassed on the establishment's premises.

Skyway 87-IZ was shut down for several hours as rioters and looters took to the streets in turn, following the outbreak of violence. Inhabitants of the district burned stores, invaded homes, and threw rocks and other objects at officers arriving on the scene, with a seemingly overwhelming focus on Humans being the target of aggression in particular.

Three Citadel Security officers have been reported to be injured, with at least sixteen confirmed civilian deaths.

Executor Venari Pallin says every action will be taken to restore order, with contingency plans for large scale isolation of the district and martial law to be enacted in less than an hours' notice. The Executor continues to say officers have legal backing to use any tactics necessary, including using baton rounds and omni-nets.

When approached on the subject that a number of the acts of violence made were against Humans, Systems Alliance and Human ambassador Donnel Udina had this to say.

"These malicious acts of violence are horrid enough without realizing they targeted a select group of individuals in particular. The fact that these individuals belonged to Humanity makes them no less horrid. But it is evidence enough that many Humans are still marginalized and persecuted in our era since our arrival on the galactic stage. We must work effortlessly in our actions to ensure this bigotry and hatred is eradicated from Citadel Space, all space, and instead, replaced with a racial equality, fostered by mutual understanding between our peoples, and an exchange of culture that only serves to further proliferate a sense of unity between all races. Humanity will still continue to stand strong in face of these heinous acts, and will continue in its endeavors to support those affected by this tragedy."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Well gang this is it. Get your last bets in. I'll go ahead and spoil that things have come to a head, and the recent turn of events in the last few chapters will result in one of the most anticipated moments in any SI story finally being delivered...the history of the mystery SI. Oooooh.

While this chapter was the most overt (whether you believe what that racist asshole said or not), I'm pretty sure all the hints have already been sprinkled in the story. Not that anyone would take the time to look but...I can safely assure you all the broad strokes of Shield's past are there. There are three easy ones if the beginning of this chapter stood out to you. Shepard has even overtly stated it a couple times, though I guess her conclusions _were_ based on false premises. Anyway, expect contrived happenstances, deus exs' and unlikely coincidences to abound for the reveal. Just like how Shield suddenly became an action hero for this chapter. Unless...the person fighting didn't happen to be Shield. OOOHHhhOJOHhOH.

And I couldn't tell you why I did it. Ever since that one AN where I joked about how the Mystery Gang would be the ones who'd reveal Shield's past, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. So here they are. I also couldn't tell you why I made them all Russian or gangbangers but alas, here we are. Fyodor, Anhi, Vera, Motty, and QB-2V2, you shan't be missed.

**Reviews:**

PW - I cherish your kind words and feed on your compliments. Please, don't stop. Please. I can't live without them. As long as I have you, you're the only real follower I need~

(PS - Just kidding, I treasure you all equally) (PPS - Just kidding, you're actually my favorite, current reader. Don't tell PW or the others.)

December - Check again buttmunch.

Guest - Check again buttmunch.

DirtyCanuck - Uh, I'm pretty sure Shields is living the life. I don't know what you're talking about.

HenryWinkler - Then check again for the next chapter in a couple years buttmunch.

EvilDoctorPorkchop - Despite appearances, the slash is still on actually. Currently working on ShieldxUnderageUndeadQuarianBoyToy standalone. Expect to see it in the community soon!

Toothy - Five years. Seventy-Five chapters. Seventy-Five divided by Five is Fifteen. Fifteen chapters per year. Story is Two years old. Two years times Fifteen is Thirty. Story has Thirty Six chapters. Thirty Six greater than Thirty. So, uh, by my calculations, I think not. Lern 2 math n004.

PyrotheIDon'tReadInnerMonologues -CHECK AGAIN (and in the next chapter) BUTTMUNCH.

Despised Earl of Pembroke - In order: But he would appear to be a mad man or an extremely prescient mad man, I still see the ball gag, I have learned the Roaring Twenties were pretty great so my b, and CHECK AGAIN BUTTMUNCH. I don't know what you're talking about. Typis? What Typus? I don't see any Typoos.

**In the Next Chapter: ...THAT'S THE SECRET?! LAME!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	37. A Menagerie of Mysteries

"Thank you again for seeing us Doctor. I haven't really been feeling that great lately and when I read up on that recent flu that's been going around I was getting scared that-"

"Please, it was no problem at all. And your baby's in perfect health. Just keep along as you are. You're doing just fine."

"No Doc, you really did us a big one, meeting with us on such short notice. Rebekah here is as hypochondriac as a Quarian, so I'm glad you could put her worries here to rest."

"Hey!"

"If you ever need a favor Doc, just call my number here. My boys could get you a permit to expand this clinic of yours by the end of this standard week."

"Oh, that's very kind of you to offer, but that's much too generous. Your child's fine, and as parents, that's all that matters-"

"Oh, he's not actually mine. He's my brothers. Rebekah here is just my sister in law."

"Ah, my apologies, I-"

"Hey, no need to apologize! You helped US here Doc! In fact...do you think you can help with something else? Now, I've been reading up on these treatments that could prevent this very thing that Rebekah was scared of-"

"Michael, I already told you! I'm not getting them!"

"...ungh."

I could only begin to blink as bright lights slowly seeped into my vision. However, in doing so, I quickly realized that my eyes were quite dry. As were my lips. And that my nose was pretty stuffy too. And that even my bones were aching...and that I now regretted even waking up in the first place. I swear, consciousness was overrated. I could only let out a silent yawn in protest as I half-heartedly propped myself out of the bed next, trying to get my bearings, wondering where I was.

Wondering where I was?

A Mako-load of regret hit me as the events that had transpired just moments ago flooded my mind. Where I had just been prior to this room. What I had just been doing. Why I was- No. I quickly realized that all must have been hours ago. I was currently in a bed. Out of the streets. The alleyway. The Club in Manash.

I cautiously propped myself up again, attempting now to figure out where the hell I exactly was. And I realized...I realized I was in a very familiar place, as the stark white walls of the clinic and its red-haired owner came into view. They were a welcome sight, and one I had seen naught just a week ago. And the kind woman who owned these very walls now turned their attention toward me, apparently noticing that I had just woken from my stupor. She quickly excused herself from the bed across from me before beginning to sashay on over. The couple behind her however seemed ignorant of the fact that she had even left, continuing to bicker.

"Ah, Mister Shield, good afternoon. I hope that you slept well. How are you feeling?" In no time at all, I found Doctor Michel already leaning over the side of my bed, reading whatever was displayed on the data pad adjacent to it, simultaneously placing a tray of what looked like gruel that she had pulled from god knows where on a table next to my bedside.

"Not great," I ended up mumbling, growing faintly aware of the cheek swelling below my eye and the fleshy bruises lining my body. Everything was beginning to ache now in fact. Annoyingly so. "...why am I here? What happened?"

"Mon dieu! Do you not remember?" My blatant confusion and pathetic shake of the head gave her the answer she wanted. "I'll have to write that down. But ah, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It's entirely understandable from the state I found you in." She walked over to grab a glass of water and small container from a nearby counter top, deciding to resume the story when she returned. "From what I recall, I had just left my clinic, and had begun to close for the night when I heard something come from around the corner. With my curiosity getting the better of me, I went to see what the source of such a unsettling sound was. And as I turned the corner of the street, imagine my surprise to find you of all things, half-conscious, bleeding on the ground right before me! You wouldn't believe the fright you gave me!"

"...uh, sorry," I pathetically managed to mouth in return.

It was unsettling to hear any of this since I had no recollection of it. I didn't remember coming here. Nor did I remember or even try to fathom how I'd even feasibly got to this section of the Ward. My body must have been on auto-pilot. There was no way to determine how I made it all the way back up here otherwise-

"I spent most of my night attempting to just keep you alive. You had lost a dangerous amount of blood from that terrible hole in your shoulder. Let alone the amount of trauma done to your body..."

I followed her gaze now, noticing the large bandage affixed to where I had been first slashed by that bottle on my forelimb. Following that trend, I came to realize my left shoulder also had a giant patch on it too. And hell, even my hands were wrapped up in gauze and bandages. I was about half-way to being buried inside a pyramid. I didn't realize things had really been that bad-

"...what in the world happened to you?"

I found myself gritting my teeth as she asked. Which I suppose is because I refused to relive an inkling of it. To even recall a shard of these memories. It was just another eent I was content to let join the others I had first lost when I woke up here. When I woke up in this god-forsaken universe. It was just another failed venture. Another pointless loss this place decided to thrust in my face-

I stopped my wallowing when I realized she was still waiting for an answer.

"You don't need to worry about it Doc...it's nothing to worry about now."

"...it didn't involve that young Quarian boy did it? You never told me what happened to you both after you left-"

I reflexively grimaced as her face looked on with concern. "I'm...sorry about that. I forgot." I avoided her eyes, turning toward the 'edible' porridge before me instead. Everything had happened so fast that first day. I had been overwhelmed by all the sights. The newfound lack of responsibility after I had been booted off that ship. "But I...you don't need to worry about him anymore. Someone...heh. Someone set him straight. He won't be getting into any more trouble...Not any time soon."

My sick words were taken at face value, and Doctor Michel just crossed her arms, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I'm glad to hear that. And I'm glad of course to see that you're alright after last night's events too. I wasn't sure if I had already been too late to help. To be honest, I'm surprised to even see you awake so soon! You've made an incredible recovery."

"Huh," I let slip quietly, eyeing the bandaged body beneath me.

"Be sure to take these for the pain however," the doctor fretted next, motioning to the container she must have set down next to my bedside a split-second ago. "I'm surprised you can even sit up in your bed with the amount of stress your body's been through-"

"Look, I'm telling you, this is not what Jake would want!"

The couple's argument across from Doctor Michel and I was now quite a bit too loud to ignore. As much as the Doctor and I had been trying to for the past few minutes.

"Who are you to tell me what my husband would want?!"

"I'm the only person making sense right now! You're endangering your baby!"

"Yes, it's MY baby! And you have no authority to say what's good or bad for it!"

Determining that things had escalated long enough, the doctor gave an apologetic nod and now rushed away to try to settle the two's dispute. Though we were the only patients present in the small clinic, I don't think Doctor Michel was a particular fan of the shouting match regardless. I expected her to snap pretty soon just like she had at me and Zael just the other da-

I felt the porridge turn sour in my mouth, and I put down my spoon, deciding instead to just take the medicine the Doctor had left me. I drowned the putrid taste of the gruel with the water that had accompanied it.

"Please, there's no need to raise your voices-"

"I don't care what you think Michael! It's my decision!"

"I know you're hurting Rebekah, but don't let your grief hurt your baby too!"

"How dare you!"

"Perhaps you can talk some sense into her," 'Michael' asked Doctor Michel now that he realized she had returned, ignoring the fact that the doctor was intending to simply nix the argument, not join it.

"I don't need anyone to 'talk sense' in to me Michael! I'm not undergoing the treatments!"

As their voices escalated, I realized Michel's clinic really did seem to be a happenin' place. What she had to deal with on a regular basis...I mean, the hazards of healthcare in the 22nd century were apparently ridiculous. What with all the treating fugitive Quarians on the lam, enduring shakedowns from hired goons, dealing with blackmailers and thugs after dwindling supplies, not to mention voluntarily taking in any vagabond that stopped by for treatment-

_What are you doing?_

...

_Why are you still here?_

...

_...how did things end up like this?_

I couldn't bare it anymore. The failures. The helplessness. How weak I was-

"What kind of treatments are you talking about?" I decided to suddenly ask aloud, almost ecstatic, electing to thrust myself into the middle of the dispute.

"Well," Michael surprisingly deigned to reply to the random stranger that had addressed him. "My sister-in-law here is pregnant, and she's refused to let the baby undergo gene therapy in utero-"

"I know you mean well Michael, but in regards to a family matter like this, I'm afraid it would be best to keep this just between members of your family. Ultimately, the choice should be made by-"

"But this could be the difference between life and death for that child Doc! If I can't convince Rebekah, someone has to!"

"I don't need 'convincing'!"

"Is gene therapy unsafe?"

His attention returned to me with the question. Though the conversation had honestly been begging it since it started. I thought it had been a fairly common occurrence in the universe of Mass Effect. I mean, I had thought it the kind of thing people in the 22nd century got all the time. Whether in-utero or post-birth, with even military enlistees at age eighteen and up getting it upon joining the Alliance...I'm pretty sure that's what that guy with MarsGene says in the game anyway...why the mother is so adamantly against it is sort of boggling-

"My husband, Jacob, died from a rare heart condition several months ago." In lieu of Michael, the strawberry-haired woman in bed had answered instead, humoring me. Though the response had quickly rid whatever levity I had hoped to find in their predicament.

"There's a chance that the baby could develop the same heart condition, but routine gene therapy can eliminate it," the auburn-haired man beside her followed up, interrupting the woman.

"I know you both-"

The doctor tried to get a word in edgewise next before the woman loudly spoke up again. "A very small chance Michael! And extranet reports say the therapy could harm the child!"

_This is all pointless._

"Please you two, I don't believe-"

"It's less dangerous than the genetic enhancements that every soldier in the Alliance receives!" Michael now yelled.

_After this is over...what will you do?_

"Exactly how dangerous we talkin'?" I asked before the woman, who I believed to be named Rebekah, could snap back at him even louder, in a feeble attempt to drown it out.

"One in three hundred at most," the man I believed to be named Michael asserted.

"Hmmm. Interesting."

"But extranet articles say there could still be long-term complications we don't know about!" She now turned to address the man beside her. "Don't you understand? If my baby is that one in three hundred, I'll always wonder if I...if I...killed my baby for nothing!"

_That one kid died for nothing._

"Rebekah..."

"Please, you both need to calm yourselves. For the sake of your and the child's health. Please, take a deep breath and relax."

"I...alright," Rebekah whispered, finally acknowledging the Doctor and taking her advice. She wiped a small tear away as she did.

But I wasn't done with the conversation. I wasn't ready to be alone with my thoughts. This distraction was all I had left. "But...what are the odds that the baby might even get the same condition as his father?"

"Mister Shield, while I understand you want to help, this matter should stay just bet-"

"According to the doctors, there's a one in fifty chance," Rebekah decided to answer again almost cheery, any hint of her previous melancholy already gone. "And if my baby develops the heart condition, medical treatments are still available."

"Which are nowhere near effective as getting the gene therapy!"

"Mister Petrovsky! Please watch the tone of your voice! If you shout again, I will have to ask you to leave."

...Petrovsky?

"I'm sorry Doctor," the man seemed to respond in embarrassment, likely cowed by her reprimand.

Though I couldn't blame him. Doctor Michel's signature glare really did demand that response every time she gave it. It was just that intense. While it might not be as bad as...

_You don't want to remember her either._

A-anyway, I still remembered the last time I had received one from the Doctor vividly. The last time I had seen it had in fact been when...I had been with...

I almost had to laugh. I was pathetic. Why was I so hung up on any of this?

"But this is a serious a matter," Michael followed, voice rising again as he continued his overture. "If I don't convince her-"

I now redoubled my focus on the conversation. Because the entire reason I had joined it in the first place was to avoid just that. To move on from it all. I never truly cared about any of it so there's no reason for me to even dwindle on it.

But what Doctor Michel had just said now...my attention was actually centered on the conversation for a tangible purpose. Because I could have just sworn-

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but what did you say your last name was?"

I was too gripped by the prospect not to.

"Oh, I never introduced myself did I," the man murmured as I derailed the beginnings of their next volley. "I'm Michael Petrovsky-"

And there it was again. I hadn't misheard. It was a galaxy full of names. Billions of them. Trillions probably. The odds of at least two people sharing the same surname while still being unrelated are practically absolute. Probably was something everyone experienced at least once even in the 21st century. Because, yes, coincidentally shared surnames were unavoidable. There was no reason to assume anything at all.

"-you might have recognized my name from the ads my firm puts out every now and then-"

But what did I have to lose from just simply asking.

"And my sister-in-law here is-"

"I can introduce myself Michael-"

"You wouldn't happen to be related to a General Oleg Petrovsky would you?"

The man turned his gaze back to me, brow raised. Though I figured as much. I didn't know why I had even asked.

"Oh, you know him?"

Because even if he had answered yes, I hadn't had anything in mind. What would I have even-

My gaze moved from the end of the bed back to him.

"What."

"Does the man you're thinking of have black hair, a stern gaze, and a need to constantly quote grand historical works or larger than life figures?"

"...ye-yeah. Yeah. Yeah that sounds like him."

There was no way.

"Hah, then that sounds you're talking about Uncle Oleg. Are you an officer under his command? I just happened to notice you have an Alliance crew uniform there."

I followed his gesture, looking to the other side of my bed now, where my only set of clothes lay neatly folded on a stool, clearly washed as they had no tell-tale signs of filth or blood they must have been caked in the last time I wore them. I guess I had the Doctor to thank for that too.

I owed her too much at this point.

"...I-yes. Yes I am." My heart was racing now, mind wild as I realized for the first time since I came here...that it had just given me another fresh slate. I hadn't planned for it. I couldn't possibly have. How did I even assume? But now that he had just affirmed it...out of the blue...this could be it. What I was waiting for. Why I had even been meandering around this hellhole. This was big. There was no other way to put it. Since I got here, I had never been lucky enough to come across an opportunity like this.

_And what exactly was Eden Prime? Waking up just in time to see Shepard?_

This was...

I blinked as I realized he was still waiting for me to continue. "Or he was," I declared, scrambling for words. "He used to, uh, command my unit. You...haven't heard from him recently have you? I haven't seen him in quite a while."

"Haha, actually, I just met with him for lunch not that long ago."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. I think he even mentioned he'd be on the Citadel for a couple days afterwards. Was meeting with some old colleagues of his or something...I could get you in touch with him if you want."

"...you...you would do that?"

"I don't see why not. I'm sure he'd love to reconnect with an old soldier of his. And it's the least I could do for those protecting Humanity." A cheesy smile accompanied the remark. "Give me your name and I'll let him know that you wanted to meet sometime-"

Dammit.

"Oh, actually, uh, could you not mention my name in your message? I...I was kind of hoping to surprise him." Though the General would be surprised regardless. It's not like I've ever actually met him before. Or have heard any name that the Cerberus officer would possibly know. "I haven't seen the general since...Torfan. And I was thinking of just showing up out of the blue. Thought he'd be a fan of the...serendipity."

"Huh, I wasn't aware that Oleg served at Torfan."

Dammit.

"Oh, I think it was just a small skirmish with pirates. Nothing I would say was anything newsworthy."

"Ah, I see," Micheal frowned.

I mimicked his action. What was I even doing. Because I sure as hell didn't know. I had no direction, hadn't had one since I had left the others. What even was the current goal of the person sitting in this bed-

"Well, if you want to go down that route...I think I can help you out."

"I under...huh?"

"How 'bout this. I'll ask him if we can meet again, and if he says he's not busy, you can pop by in my place. Would that work for you?"

"...that would be amazing."

"Ha great. I think he'll find it a hoot. He always did love surprises didn't he? I'll message him right now. Where would you like to meet? There's a well-known place that sells drinks nearby. Think it's called Flux...would that work for you?"

"Yeah. I'm familiar with it. Yeah, that'd be great."

"Great," the man said, now tapping on his omni-tool. "Heh. What are the odds that a random stranger in the bed across from us would know a family member?" he said aloud to no one in particular.

Rebekah Petrovsky now paused her sidebar with Doctor Michel to retort. "Well when you talk to every single person in the Citadel, it's bound to happen eventually."

"And I'll continue to do just that until someone I talk to can make you seen reason! The gene therapy could mean the difference between life and death for that child!" The man had a goal he was dead set on getting, I'd give him that. Tenacious would probably be the word for it.

"I don't care what you think!" Rebekah shot back, having none of it.

"For what it's worth, I think getting the treatment would be the right choice here-"

_Why did you say that? Why do you even care?_

"And who are you anyway!?" she immediately snapped at me. "It's my child! It's my decision."

_Because you know you don't._

"Mister Shield," Doctor Michel began again, "I'm going to ask you to please-"

"Look Ms. Petrovsky. I know I'm a stranger; that I have no right to tell you how to live your life. It is your baby after all. It should be your decision on how to raise it, damn what anyone else says." Michael made a motion to object before I opened my mouth again, while Doctor Michel merely pinched her nose in turn, finally yielding to the fact that she had no chance in stifling the debate. "But you said it yourself. If that child of yours gets his father's disease...would you be able to say you were glad you chose not to get the treatment in the end? That'd you be fine if your child dies because of your indecision?"

_And why would it matter. Dying of the disease would be no less different than the child dying due to the treatment. The worst outcome would be the same regardless._

"You- even if my child is born with it, there's still treatments available after-"

"Did those treatments help your husband at all?"

The room fell silent, the woman at a loss for words with how I had crossed the line. The others made to immediately object.

"Hey now-"

"I-"

She was on the verge of tears again.

"Mister Shield! That was extremely inappropriate! I'm going to ask that-"

"If that happened, you wouldn't blame yourself? That you wouldn't still ask yourself if you were the one responsible for killing your child because you didn't take action in the end? That you just sat by, paralyzed by indecision, hoping for better when you had the chance to actually fix things?!"

_Oh I see._

"I...I had to watch Jacob die! I can't risk causing the death of my child as well!"

_You're not even talking to her are you?_

"So you'd leave it all up to fate instead? I..." I turned my eyes away from her, to my left hand instead, staring at the metal digits glinting through what parts weren't bandaged. "Someone once told me that you can't just hope for things to get better. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Sometimes...you have to take risks."

_Sad. Look at you. The Old Man would be so thrilled that you took those words to heart wouldn't he? Or would he just lecture you on how regurgitating words instead of living by them is still just as pathetic?_

"But...what if I make the wrong choice?" she almost whispered now, voice wavering. "What...what if that risk ends up killing a child who would have never developed the condition?" Her voice was faltering. "...what then?"

"...then you'll know you did all you could to keep your baby safe. That's all you can do."

_Do...you truly even believe that?_

"Don't you understand? I can't lose this baby!" She made no attempt to wipe away the drops gliding down her cheeks as her heart made one last defense. "This...this is all I have left of him."

"And you and that baby are all I have left of Jacob!" I didn't need to answer this time. Michael promptly replied now, on the verge of tears himself. His sudden voice caused her to look up from her bed in shock. "I can't lose you, either of you. Not after this," the man replied, now facing her for the first time.

"Then...why didn't you say that instead of yelling at me?"

Her strangely gentle voice in contrast with before was enough to coax out the truth from him. "...I...I was scared. I'm sorry. I just...I just wanted Jacob's child to be safe. I want to give him that much."

The two continued to stare at one another for a while, apparently understanding what the other was feeling for the first time since the argument arose. How long had it been hindering their relationship? How long had this issue cause them to fight? Days? Weeks? Months even? What did it say about them that the entire affair had seemed to be resolved in but a moment by a passing stranger? And that it stemmed from just a simple lack of communication?

...from a lack of truth?

Doctor Michel stood silent still beside the bed, obviously appalled by the sudden turn of events. Turning from me to them, and back again, perhaps completely at a loss as to how things had turned out the way they did.

"If it means that much to you Michael...if you trust that it's...the right thing...I'll do the therapy."

"You...you will?"

"I will. I promise."

"Rebekah..."

Why did my words resonate with her at all?

The mother wiped away another tear before turning her gaze toward me. "Thank you so much. I...I guess we just needed a person on the outside to talk some sense into both of us."

"Hey...I'm sorry. I was out of line. I just thought-"

...why? Why on Earth would you care about this? They have three years tops until they all die anyway. Treatment or no. Hell, they could die this year when the Geth-

"...Mister Shield?" I came back to as the doctor called my name. "Are you feeling alright? You don't look well."

"I'm sorry," I whispered again.

The woman shook her head, smiling gently. "No. I think those words were exactly what I needed-"

...I'm sorry.

"-thank you."

* * *

**Hours Later.**

I think I've hammered it in enough on how pathetic things were.

In retrospect, if I really just stopped and took a look at the consequences of all my actions thus far, I think it'd be safe to say that my adventure has really been just one long, overdrawn, misleading, monotonous, mundane, aggravating shaggy dog story. Which I realize now is all redundant but sue me.

I never knew what I was doing. I knew that from the start. And even after all my mistakes...I surely didn't now.

Despite my omnitool citing it was the middle of the day, the club around me still thrummed with activity; waitresses navigated crowded tables with impossibly wide trays, payouts of quasar machines buzzed loudly from the mezzanine above, and the general clamor of the crowd around me reached such ludicrous heights that it almost drowned out the tones of Flux's thumping bass. Yet here I sat in spite of it all. Silent. Alone. A blatant contrast to the atmosphere around me. It really was quite pitiful to be frank. But from my small nook in the furthest corner of the room, I was already ignoring everything mentioned thus far, as my focus had become entirely fixated on the man who had just walked in some time ago.

And there he currently sat, at a table for two near one of Flux's window panes, seemingly nonplussed by the raucous atmosphere around him. He had checked his omni-tool thrice since he had been seated, ignored a white, drunken Turian with black markings ask him for credits, and declined the service of a flirty Asari waiter that had all approached him in the time since. But between each of those actions, I could see that his attention was simply gripped by the view outside the club's large paneled window to his right, apparently engrossed with the bustling air traffic of the Citadel outside.

I didn't know what I was doing.

Michael had told me it was on shortly before they left. I had rested a while longer before leaving the clinic quickly after...against Doctor Michel's wishes. I hadn't been kind to her when I did. But I had shed the medical gown for my pressed clothes, picked up the firearm from the locker she had let slip about, ripped away most of the bandages hampering me against her and my own better judgement, and set off for Flux, damning my aching body for hindering even that simple task. And here I had sat for the past several hours since then, mind blank.

_What are you even doing here?_

How did this happen? What was I planning to do?

_Can you not realize how idiotic this is?_

The man responsible for leading the occupation of Omega. The disenfranchised general who had turned away from the Alliance, and instead, toward the extremists known as Cerberus. A man that I forgotten even existed up until his name was uttered earlier this day. And why had it been?

_Stop before you make a mistake dickweed._

Chance? Fate? Was there a reason at all?

_Don't do it._

My table was already behind me.

_It's not too late._

But I suppose it didn't matter. I knew why I was here.

_Head for the exit._

The sounds of my footsteps were the only thing I heard now as I approached him.

_You have no idea what you're doing._

It was because I didn't have anything else. For seemingly no reason at all, it constantly punished me. Whether I had a plan I wanted to follow, or simply none at all. Nothing went right. It refused to leave me alone. Like my very existence was a blight it needed to cure. A cancer it needed to excise. I could say without a doubt that this universe was indeed a cruel one.

_You fool._

I was above him now, hovering over his shoulder, already absentmindedly uttering the words.

"General Petrovsky?"

He slowly looked up in turn, grey eyes rife with curiosity as to who could possibly be asking for him now. But I soon found myself mimicking his face as the subtle expression on it turned to blatant shock, his mouth quietly uttering the name.

"...Alexei?"

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Spacehouse Rock with Spacer Sam, Episode 457: The Interstellar Criminal Organization Corner Special 39. Name of the Week: The Tenth Street Reds.**

Hey kids! Spacer Sam here! Today I want to teach you all a little something about _organized crime_! Now as I hope we all know, organized crime is a category of transstellar, stellar, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals who intend to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for money and/or profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for, what in they refer to as, "protection". Gangs may even become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization or gang can also be referred to as a mafia, mob, or crime syndicate. Together, the network, subculture and community of criminals as a whole may be referred to as the underworld. And in today's special, we'll be discussing about the organized human crime syndicate named the 10th Street Reds. First founded by its leader, Alexandar Razin, in the year 2152 CE, the gang took to humble beginnings in the city streets of Volgograd of the Russian Federation on Earth, the birthplace of Humanity. Since then, it has jumped to the forefront of interstellar crime by being a staunch pro-human organization and being one of the first groups to take to the colonial space lanes, with branches now spanning from the Local Cluster to the Serpent Nebula.

_Beginnings as a Street Gang: 2152–2165 CE_

From 2152 to the internal power struggle that erupted in 2160, the 10SR first solidified its role as a gang in Volgograd through crimes such as theft, racketeering, arson, murder, and other Organized Crime Act charges.

In 2157, Razin was taken to prison after a short release for parole violations stemming from the receipt of stolen goods. However, Razin continued to guide 10SR members, who now numbered about 1,235 (both incarcerated and free). In 2160, with the rapid growth of the 10th Street Reds due having taken to purchasing privately owned orphanages and welcoming new branches from overseas, an internal power struggle erupted and violence within the Reds ensued. Between June 2159 and February 2160, fifty six 10th Street Reds were murdered. Following the pan-continental outbreaks of internal gang violence, Alexander Razin and 19 others were charged with murder and racketeering; the indictments ended in 2161 with 39 tenth street reds indicted by the Systems Alliance under advisement by the Russian Federation.

The details of the charges against Razin were later revealed in 2165. Razin was charged with specifically ordering the killing of Broderick (The Comissar) Weisman. Weisman was taken to an abandoned apartment where he was strangled, decapitated, mutilated and had his corpse set on fire. Talk about gross violation of human conduct! Although Razin was in prison, the Alliance and Russian government later alleged he had ordered a TOS ("Terminate On Sight") to all 10th Street Reds for the murder of Weisman. This message sent, along with many others, were how Razin was initially linked to three murders on the streets of Montreal as well; testimony from former Reds was used as further evidence of the orders. The datapads had been copied and stored by the UNAS Department of Corrections, who were not aware of the significance of the messages until an Alliance task force was formed that linked homicide investigators from the Russian Federation Criminal Justice Department, UNAS Federal Intelligence, and DOC crime division.

_Reformation: 2166–2173 CE_

In 2170, following the trial of Alexandar Razin, Antonio Calum, who was recently elected as the Secretary General of PanAsia, kneeled with other Reds in front of a Federal District Court in Moscow, quoted as stating, "It's time for a fresh start...now they can't hold our past against us. 2170 will be the beginning of the 10SR's transformation from a street gang to a 'street organization'."

10th Street Reds began appearing en masse at political demonstrations in support of the Pro-Human community. To further its transformation and efforts to legitimize, the organization began to hold its monthly meetings (universals) at Systems Alliance embassies around Earth. At this time, the membership of the 10th Street Reds is believed to have swelled to 2,560 incarcerated and 6,350 free. The monthly universals drew attendance of 800-900 regularly. Internal changes to the organization began to take place as Calum amended the 10SR manifesto to include parliamentary elections and new procedures for handling inter-organizational grievances and removing death as a possible punishment, replacing it with "vanishing", the act of being banished from the movement. During this period, Calum was indicted with domestic abuse and drug possession charges.

The pending charges against Calum were dropped in early 2171. Following the release of Calum, a joint operation of the UNAS Federal Intelligence, Volgograd City Police Department (VCPD), Systems Alliance Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Systems Alliance Trans-continental Earth Justice Division came to a close with the arrests of 92 suspected high-ranking 10SR members. The 10th street reds' leadership insisted over half of those arrested are not members in spite of this. The operation, dubbed Operation Berlin Wall, cost the city over five million credits and took 19 months to complete. Calum was eventually permitted in 2173, though on house arrest, to attend monthly universal meetings. It was during this time that the 10SR truly underwent a shake up in leadership, dismissing many of its leaders in order to bring in more pro-human politically focused members.

_Currently: 2174-2183 CE_

The 10SR after this period of reformation begin to gain legitimacy and its movement spread to other colonies in Alliance Space. First, Erma Vandergut, who was a member of the Terra Firma Party, appointed the Terra Nova 10SR to protect her during a demonstration in front of the colony's Alliance Embassy. Following the Alliance Systems demonstration, Rafael Pans, a member of the Arcturus Senate, attended a monthly universal. Before years' end, Raymond Ashe, an Alliance officer, attended a monthly universal and was given 10SR honors by the present leadership. Ashe was praised during the meeting and stated "These guys are hope for Humanity's struggle. I can die in peace, knowing that the disenfranchised youth of Humanity is willing to take up arms." However, the 10th street reds are still far from a legitimate organization, still participating in a large number of racketeering and smuggling operations, as well as acts of terrorism and racism throughout Council space. If you see one, be sure to hop to the other side of the space lane!

Welp, that's all the time we have for today kids! In the next episode: What exactly is a 'shifty space cow'? And why are they such a concern?

Tune in next time on Spacehouse Rock with Spacer Sam!

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

What started as a short, fun backstory somehow became a full-fledged parody that almost quadrupled the length of this chapter. What the hell. ANYWAYS, hope you bums enjoy the new chapter. Though it seems kinda hard to. Our favorite SI is as whiny as always, still beating himself up over that one kid whose name I already forgot. But...could there be change for Shield on the horizon now that Petrovsky seems to mistake him for this mysterious 'Alexei' as well!? Hurr durr who knows. I sure don't. I only write this stuff. ON TO MY FAVORITE PART...REVIEWS!

**Reviews:**

Death Lord: I'm glad to see that I'm not dead either man. Glad to see I'm not dead either. Weeeell...it's 50/50.

Ton of Deku: You mad over dat?! Oh you're not gonna like the next few chapters then lol

(SPOILERS FOR ME:Andromeda)

NY Guy born in 88: Maaaan, who hasn't heard of Mass Effect Andromeda. As controversial as ME3 is...we all know we gonna get it. You can biotic charge with a jet pack man. JET PACK CHARGING MAN. And...the protagonist's name is Ryder for gods sake. The possibilities are endless. I already have my first two runs planned. Dick Ryder (teehee), and Jay Ryder, who I plan to romance PeeBee with. So halfway thru I can start calling them PeeBee and...Jay LOLOLOLOL

(END SPOILERS)

cV Da: And dam sun. You think that if someone's life sucks, they should just kill themselves? That's rough bud. Though arbitrarily contriving pain for a character is a valid qualm...I will have to fight you on 'made-up' levels of racism. In actual canon, the 10th Street Reds are actually super-racist. Hell in ME1, there's even a mission for Earthborn Shepard where they find out their former gang is now violently anti-alien, with one being arrested for poisoning medicine that could have killed millions of Turians. MILLIONS. And with how Turians view their own biotics with suspicion, Salarians hating their Lystheni offshoots, Asari despising their own Pureblood sisters...racism is rampant in Mass Effect, even among own races. It's like a huge theme or something. Like 10 instances of it per game. At least. In my opinion, if there's no racism, it's just not Mass Effect...I mean, remember that one Volus in ME2 who lost his credit chit? RACIST. But sorry to see you go man. Hope you give the story another try one day. Maybe when it's finished in 2023 :(

Fonz: Uh, I'm pretty sure if you read the last chapter, you'd know Shield is already going to be paired with Zael. Nevermind that he's already dead or underage. The heart wants what the heart wants.

Guest: And I used to be right there with you bud. Once came across a SarenxGarrus erotic snuff fic. Makes me shudder to this day. And wasn't actually half bad.

Lagging Ace: Shepard has the colonist background, so is unfortunately not a member of the Reds. Though she is kinda racist. Mostly to Batarians though. Think they did shenanigans with her home on Mindoir or something. She doesn't like to talk about it.

Toothless: ...is it time for a new chapter? c:

* * *

**In the Next Chapter: Who let Hades' Dogs out? Who, who, who, who-**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	38. Disbelief! Denouement! Danger? Dangit!

"...Alexei?"

"No. Don't you fucking dare." The pistol was in my hand before his lips could move again, and I quickly threw myself down in the seat opposite his, only haphazardly attempting to hide the weapon under the table. "Think it'd be funny if you said it too huh? That you'd be able to...no, no, I guess it doesn't even matter. You got me. I can't even think of how you know what the hell that fuck said back there but...hm. Then how long have you guys been watching me huh? Were those people in the clinic just moles of yours? How much of this has been planned? Tell me huh?"

The man across from me eyed me cautiously now, so composed that I felt his previous expression hadn't even existed in the first place. "I am afraid I am unable to follow what exactly you are accusing me of."

"Okay, no, no yeah. That's not true. I know there's no way those people at clinic were yours. How could you possibly anticipate the Doctor would even say your last name? Unless you were paying her. But you know what, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Because how would you even know that I'd even recognize your name in the first place? Yeah, honestly that whole scenario would be ludicrous. It'd be retarded."

"Is my nephew still alive?"

I could only stare him down with vitriol at that retort, his face still stoic despite the accusation. Staring at me like I was a lunatic. "Of course he is. Why the hell would he not?"

And if he had felt any relief at all upon hearing those words, I hadn't seen it. "So then...what exactly did you hope to gain by calling me here Alexei-"

"Stop it!"

I refused to acknowledge it. I had only heard it once before. And my brain had folded in on itself and refused to acknowledge it at that time either. It wasn't true. There's no way in hell any of it made sense. They were just trying to manipulate me.

"...that's not my name."

The man across from the table just gazed at me, sitting still, waiting. Just...waiting. But waiting for what? Was he...he was toying with me. I already knew that. I tightened my grip around my Predator, as I realized both my hands had been shaking up until that point.

"The club. That's the only way you'd know that name. Y'allve been watching me up until that point and, yeah, now you bastards think you can trick me through it." I sneered as his face remained stoic despite my claim. "But unlike you, I actually _have_ dirt...how long has _Cerberus_ been watching me?"

The name had done nothing. His face remained as implacable as ever. And I waited a while longer for a response that never came.

"Answer the question or-"

"Please forgive me, but it seems that I have mistook you for someone I once knew. If you would, may I have your name? I am at a disadvantage as it appears you already know my own."

The hell.

"...Shield. Marauder Shield."

"Is that your given name?" I only narrowed my eyes, not entirely sure what he was up to wit that question. "Or one you gave yourself?"

"It doesn't-"

Then I felt a pair of eyes besides his own, and my hairs stood on end. I quickly jerked my head around and hissed, "-who else is here with you?!"

Someone else was watching me, and my eyes sharply flitted around the neighboring tables now, suddenly aware of how stupidly I had been acting. Somebody else could have come in, one sent to keep an eye on Petrovsky. Shit, would that make sense with how important he was. Oh shit, and how many suits could be assigned to him? Of course there'd be more than one. Or am I paranoid? Was it just that a regular club goer had finally noticed me in the time I had been sitting here, brazenly brandishing my gun?! Fuck! I've been an idiot-

"Could it be that you do not remember your given name?"

My eyes returned to the man who had just blatantly ignored my question.

"Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here."

"Are you not curious as to why you are lacking memories at all?"

My blood ran cold when he said that.

"Stop it. I'm not lacking-"

"You must have recovered some faint aspect of your mind to at least recall my name. Why not come back with me to my home. It will be safer to talk there-"

"Don't move," my mouth growled as he made to get up. "And stop treating me like a fucking child. Don't think that you're actually getting to me. I mean...how _stupid_ do you think I am?" Pretty stupid with how I've handled this so far. "You know we've never met before so don't-"

"Then how did you recall my name when you met my nephew?"

"Oh bitch please. Because-"

I stopped when I realized I couldn't give anyone the real answer to that. I had to swallow my words and ended up just glaring silently at him again. Damn bastard.

"Alexei." He motioned with his hand to get up with him. "I can help you. Even if you can only remember a name right now...that at least shows proof that we can recover more of what you lost."

_Don't buy into him. You're smarter than this. _

"We're staying right here," I hissed, eyeing the table closest to us, who's occupants were still obliviously chatting away. The man across from me assented, resuming his previous posture. "But let me put everything out in the open. You're Oleg Petrovsky. A general of the Systems Alliance. And you, are currently in my custody...as my prisoner. Since I can see that you're still wearing your Alliance dress blues...I know you haven't publicly defected to Cerberus yet. Obviously. But-"

"That's a bold accusation."

"That's the truth."

"If it was...then what would you do with that information? What would such a thing get you?"

"Doesn't matter. All you need to know is-"

"Do you have evidence?"

Fuck.

"Enough to incriminate you."

"Then what need did you have to meet with me here? Why not simply send it all to the Department of Internal Affairs?"

Why did this always happen?

"...because Cerberus has moles everywhere. I rather you admit to it in person with the files at hand then have it buried-"

"You have the evidence with you now?"

"...don't be stupid. It's all in a safe location-"

"Then will you retrieve them on the way? Or will you submit the evidence for my treason after marching me to the nearest Alliance depot at gunpoint in broad daylight?"

"..."

"If you are done, let me deliver my own bold claim." The man leaned forward, continuing as if he had no fear of what I could do at any given moment. "If what you say is true, we are meeting now because you simply overheard my name in passing and tricked my relative into setting up a meeting betwixt us. However, you had no clear goal in doing so, nor can you explain even to yourself why you had, which would lend credence to why you spouted nonsensical delusions borne of paranoia instead of demands upon first approaching me. It would also explain why you were content to meet me in such a public venue despite planning to subdue me via such a...conspicuous means."

"...you know, you sure talk a lot-"

"And despite you asserting we have never met, I claim that we have. Only one of us of course can be correct. It is possible that I have mistaken you for someone else, and that you truly do only recognize my name from investigating my person. However, if you would humor me, presume that the former assumption is false. Then, according to the latter scenario, we have met, and therefore exchanged names. This would explain why you know of mine. Of course, the name I vividly recall and the name you currently possess are at odds. And since you are the one to claim we have never crossed paths, and we have ruled that false, it would deem sensible that _you _are the one who has lost their memory of our previous encounter. However, if you are confident that there are no gaps or missing entries within your recollections, then I will relent."

"You think you talk a big game... but you know...that latter scenario is only true if you aren't lying."

"I am not."

"Oh. Okay then. Let me just take your word for it-"

"I understand why you're incredulous Alexei. But how else would I know-"

"First of all, shut up. Second, the name's Shield, as previously established. And thirdly...it's my turn to talk now. Look at me. I'm the captor here. And I have to say, what exactly do _you_ seek to gain out of all this Petrovsky? Let's analyze the scenario, shall we? I got you by the cojones in every which way. At this very moment, you can't so much as fart without my say so. I'm the one in control here, so I'm the only one who has anything to lose at this exact moment. If I give you even a modicum of leeway, I'll be the one who'll be in a lesser position than the moment before. So, if you think I'll listen to a damn word you say, ohoho, buddy, you're sadly mistaken."

"And what do you have to lose just by listening to what_ I_ have to say...Shield was it?"

"What did I literally just say-"

"What was said were empty words. I haven't failed to notice you already put away your gun, likely in fear that someone at a neighboring table will see us. This tells me you had no intention of actually using it from the beginning. Which further inclines me to believe there is nothing stopping me from simply getting up and leaving this room."

...was my action that overt? When had he noticed?

"Except I know that you're affiliated with a known terrorist organization and if you-"

"Shield."

I couldn't help but reflexively pause as he uttered the name. The man's voice was just that commanding. A voice of authority that had grown accustomed to commanding legions. That was the caliber of man I had just pitted myself against now.

"...what?"

"I'm curious...what exactly did you hope to gain from this encounter? I still have yet to hear a concrete reason for why you called me here."

"I _just_ said...alright." It was at that exact moment it hit me. "You want a reason? Ok. You know what?" Where exactly I could go from here. What I had been waiting for all along. "Yeah okay. I have a reason." One that would ultimately change the course of this galaxy. With his influence and my...know-how, no one would stand a chance. This was it. "Here's the reason. I want a meeting with the Illusive Man. Set it up."

Because yeah...this would change things. If that happened, I could-

My attention snapped back to Petrovsky as he just laughed in my face. "I am afraid that is outside my station."

And I think it was at this point that I finally lost all control of the scenario.

When I gave up.

"Really? Because I call bullshit. I don't believe that for a second Petrovsky! All you need to friggin' do is just pull up that secret Cerberus hotline, yeah, right there on your omni-tool, and give him a little call-"

"I cannot because such a man does not exist. Nor do I have any association with the organization you mentioned."

"Jesus, are you fu-ok." And that was it. I decided to throw up my hands at this point, affirming his previous observation, as it was clear that I was getting nowhere with him. It was hard to reach a destination when you don't even know where it fucking is. "Yeah. Okay...I give up. You win. You were right all along. I don't have any evidence of your involvement with Cerberus. Though you damn well know you are. And I didn't have a plan for calling you here either. And yeah, until this year, I don't have a single memory of what happened to this sack of meat. I just...I'm done. I try and I try, but you know what? This place has just drained me of whatever...any ounce of motivation I have left. The Illusive Man doesn't exist? You annoying, greasy...no, yeah, no, it's got nothing to do with you. I'm just a pathetic failure. Not a single thing's gone my way since I woke up on Eden Prime this year and I just... it makes sense this wouldn't either. I can't even get someone to affirm the existence of their own boss. So...yeah...I...I give up."

Despite the monologue, the man continued on, ignoring every caveat of my tirade save for one. "If you cannot recall anything...why are you so adamant in the fact that I am affiliated with a group as...maladjusted as Cerberus?"

And now I was frustrated in addition to defeated. He had beaten me, had me admit it, yet still, still he wanted to break me down even more. Man fuck this guy.

"Look I'd just be wasting breath if I did. If you have a crack team of operatives somewhere in here, just call them in so we can get this over with. A clean shot to the head would be fairly preferable at this point because-"

"Would you say you have memories that are not your own...Shield was it? Memories you'd categorize as out of place? Some that might feel like they were from another life?"

"I really don't care anymore Petrovsky just-"

My head picked back up from where it lay on the table.

"...what are you talking bout."

"Hmph. I see I have your interest now. Then are you finally willing to listen to what I have to say? You need not believe it. I just merely ask that you listen."

"Why are you so intent on having me admit I lost my memory? You...you actually _do_ know something, don't you?"

_No he doesn't._

"It may not be what you want to hear, but I believe it may shed some light on your current predicament. Whether it helps you find what exactly you're looking for...is up to you."

_Don't listen to him. How many times do you have to hammer it into your head? Why the hell would you trust anything coming out of the mouth of someone from Cerberus?_

"I...okay. Look. I'm sorry for acting like a jack ass." Because I never thought I would ever learn. How could anyone possibly address what would sound like the ravings of a mad man? That you're from a different dimension where this entire galaxy is just a fictional viedo game? That you just popped into existence, out of the blue, exactly where you needed to with no explanation for it? "I don't know what I'm doing anymore Petrovsky." I never even attempted to with how hopeless finding an answer would be. But this...maybe this entire train wreck was a godsend after all...was it?

_You know he's lying to you. A second from now and you'll regret this. Why don't you understand that? Why are you doing this to yourself?_

"...I don't even know what I'm fucking doing here. I...I need help. Hehe...anyone's help. I just...tell me...do you know who the hell I am?"

And after hearing those words...the beginnings of a smirk began to creep across the man's face. His cold grey eyes warmed as they peered into mine, and then, the man let out a low-pitched chuckle, turning away from the table.

"Uh...really enjoy groveling huh?"

"No. Not at all." His gaze eventually returned to the company present, IE me, after his laughter finally waned. "I had hoped otherwise but...hah, yes. Them the man I knew is truly dead. In all the years I knew him...that man never once asked for help. Would sooner die than admit he needed it."

"Sounds like a better man then me-"

"Not at all._ Everyone_ needs help once in their lives...Shield."

"...so this man you're talking about...you said his name was Alexei?"

So had the leader of the 10th Street Reds.

"Correct. His name was Alexei. Alexei Leonov."

"Okay. Alright. Okay. So...give it to me. What exactly is there to know about 'Alexei Leonov'? Who was I-sorry...he?"

_Enjoy this fantasy while it lasts._

The officer sitting across from me now straightened in his chair, fixing his eyes upon my own. "...are you familiar with what a 'graybox' is Shield?"

"Maybe." If he meant that thing from Kasumi's loyalty mission... "It...it wouldn't happen to be something used to store memories in, would it?"

"Hm. It seems that you are." The bearded Russian now placed his hands atop the table, locking them together in a quite overdrawn fashion. "It's a device originally created as a memory aid. Used to help an individual store large collections of memories inside the mind. Ones so paramount that they could not under any circumstance be lost, ones that an individual may also not normally be able to keep."

"Wait. Oh shit. No way."

"I imagine you see where this is heading."

"...you're saying my memories are artificial. That I have a machine lodged somewhere in my fuckin SKULL that's making me think I'm another person haha? That-"

"You _are_ another person." His cold, grey eyes peered sternly into my own, causing me to quiet. "The trial that took place failed in the end. As I said before...Alexei Leonov is dead. Whatever memories you hold, whatever feelings you have, whatever thoughts cross your mind at this very moment...are those of an entirely different being."

"Why-what...then why the hell would you do that? If it destroyed his mind, why the hell did you think shoving a computer into someone's brain was a good idea in the first place?"

"For the benefits I already stated."

"So you erased a guy from existence because why? Just so he could remember what he had for lunch on Tuesday?"

"I suppose if it helps you come to further understand your predicament in some capacity..." The man craned his head closer to the table as he spoke next. "I surmise originally, the project begun as a fairly straight forward concept to improve our intelligence gathering. Grant agents in espionage implants that birthed eidetic memories. Recall anything they had ever heard or seen, be able to access the information whenever they so please. From what I gather however, the research obtained from the preliminary data resulted in the plan's abandonment, and instead, in the birth of something else. Project Backdoor."

"...and Project Backdoor was...?"

"A program started as a means to feasibly create assets unaware of their own allegiance until activated."

"Oh. Okay. Great. So I'm in a cold war spy novel-"

"Psychological conditioning, drugs, torture. Methods unreliable over long durations of time, and their efficacy often portrayed as successful only in works of fiction. From the sources I gathered, Project Backdoor's goal was to combine the theoretical workings of a quantum blue box with the storage capabilities of a gray box to lay the groundworks for a 'virtual individual'. And through that, a means to implant a foreign personality within whoever was deemed fit. Undetectable by conventional standards. A professional saboteur or veritable assassin that could be awakened ready at the simple flip of a switch in a seemingly otherwise model citizen."

"All I'm hearing are classic Cerberus shenanigans. Dangerous pseudo-science at the cost of humanity's soul, playing fast and loose with ethics, damn who's killed in the process, etcetera etc. So, what, Alexei signed up, thinking he was just getting an improved memory and instead, was tricked into-"

"You are mistaken on both fronts. No, this project was entirely funded by the Alliance. And Alexei was completely aware of Project Backdoor's intended goal from the outset, and all the consequences that accompanied its failure."

"Aaaand why would he sign up for something like that? Even if it succeeded...wouldn't the guy have lost his identity regardless?"

"...that is something I'm afraid only he could tell you. He only mentioned the project in passing, but...what I've heard from you thus far, he was in a state fairly similar to your own. It's almost enough to make me suspect a shadow of his persona still lingers on."

"...what do you mean."

"I mean he had given up. When he agreed to join the project, Alexei was a broken man who had no care for what happened to him or anything around him. His failures haunted him, to a point where he couldn't even stand on his own two legs without breaking down. And when I last spoke with him, he was resigned to whatever fate awaited him on Sanctum. No, I'm mistaken...he desired no fate at all. He cared for nothing."

"...and that's similar to me...how?"

"You need not be coy with me Shield. Were you not now just going on about how I 'beat you' not seconds ago? That you gave up your charade because you no longer had the will to keep it up? That you gave in due to the accumulation of your many other previously mentioned 'failures'?"

"Hmph. So...you're telling me not even that part of me is original huh? Heh...wait. So what, I'm supposed to believe I'm just a...freak accident? You're saying they wanted to make an artificial intelligence...only with the memories - false memories...of a fake person? And that's me right now? I'm a robot."

He only scoffed as I spoke. "As I said...the Project was a failure. Every implantation erased the memories of the original host. Alexei was no exception. And in the end, each implemented device failed to function in the desired outcome at all. All subjects were left derived of thought. What you are currently is interesting. The remnant of a man who has lost all memory, all personality-"

"So... I'm just the husk of a man is what you're still saying. I shouldn't exist."

I already knew that.

"Cogito ergo sum Shield. 'I think, therefore, I am.'"

"Welp...that just raises even more questions. When exactly did this 'Project Backdoor' take place? And what did they do with Alexei's body after everything went down the drain? Why do _I_ even exist if it all failed then?"

"Yes, my story would still leave large holes in your history by your own account. Project Backdoor ended in 2178 CE, leaving a gap of five years for you to account for. And it was to my knowledge, the subjects of the Project were given proper rites and interred."

"...well." I had to scratch my head at that. "Great. So...heh. Okay...you're saying this body crawled out of its coffin in the ground, hitched a ride all the way to Eden Prime, and I suddenly just popped into existence out of the blue upon arrival?"

"...yes, it's quite the compelling mystery. Though what you proposed just now is certainly intriguing."

"So what you're saying is...that you have no idea. Great. And...so...what? What do you suppose I do with that information general? ...what exactly am I supposed to do next? Even if I'm not crazy, and I'm not just imagining this all up...you all up, this all up-" I gestured wildly around me, admittedly at my wit's end. I was just tired of it all this point. I really had no clue. "-where do I go from here Petrov? Cause I got no credits. Spent it all on poor life choices. AND I burned every bridge I've crossed. I've got nowhere left to really go. Really, how does this any of this help my 'predicament'? I guess what I'm currently saying is...yeah...I think both of us wasted our time here. But while you're handing me freebies, why you don't you hand me some more advice. What do you think my next move should be? Honestly. What should I do with the corpse of your acquaintance?"

The man just coyly smiled and turned to face the window to his left. "It seems that you'll loathe to hear it but Alexei once asked me something fairly similar." He's right. I did loathe to hear that. I was apparently just the ghost of a whiner who got himself erased from existence. And I didn't fail to see notice the ironic parallels that came with that remark either. "I'll tell you what I told him. A famous Earth philosopher once said that 'Man is nothing else than what he makes of himself. Man is solely responsible for what he is.' Do you know what he meant by that Shield?"

"Uh, did he mean that...you're responsible for the shit you spin? That if you're a piece of shit...it's all your fault and you should give up while you're behind and everyone hates you?"

"Ahem. No."

"Damn."

"The notion was that in a lifetime, each person must make countless choices. These choices, whilst perhaps indicative of past experiences, are ultimately that person's choice and only that person's choice to make. When a person is faced with two suggested options, even if one option is being forced upon him by pain of death, it remains his choice and his choice alone in the end."

"I'm pretty sure that's what I said."

I decided to ignore the pointed look shot my way in response.

"Listen well Shield. What it all comes down to is choice. The paths you've chosen to walk...the distance you've walked since that decision...they are the entire sum of your journey thus far. Time does not allow us to march backwards. It is indifferent and callous to our cries and complaints. But those paths you chose don't necessarily determine where you'll eventually be led. Where you'll eventually find yourself next. You decide each and every moment that passes where you actually stand in the grand scheme, and what path you'll choose in the very next. You can wallow in the mistakes you've made and give in to despair. The path Alexei succumbed to in the end. Or you can fully acknowledge them, learn from them, consider them naught but a small detour from where you want your course to eventually arrive. For in the end...it's never too late to be the person you want to be. _You_ choose the life you want. _You_ choose the person you wish to be."

"...why haven't you already left Petrovsky? ...why are you humoring me?"

"Because Shield...it's something that I wished I could have repeated to Alexei all those years ago. He never sought my help later in his life...in his time of need. And by the time I realized my mistake..." His face grew grim. "But we all make mistakes Shield. I hope that my words at least reach you in some small way that they never did Alexei."

_...you choose the person you want to be huh?_

"Well...then by that logic, you shouldn't hold yourself responsible for his decision in the end either. The choices people make are theirs alone right?"

The man gave a small smile in return. "Hmph. Quite." But there was an unmistakable hint of sadness in it as well. "Yes, in the end, our choices truly are ours alone."

"...do you really not think this odd at all? The chances of this encounter even happening in the first place?"

After a short laugh, the man began thoughtfully stroking his beard. "Maybe it isn't. Maybe this really is all in your mind...Shield."

"...not what I wanted to hear. I'm going to _choose_ to ignore that."

"Hah, yes Shield, go ahead and 'choose'. For when an Alliance officer takes upon himself the responsibility for an attack, sending a number of men to their death, he chooses to do it and he alone chooses." Petrovsky once again took to looking out the window now. "No doubt the orders come from a higher command, but its orders, which are more general, require interpretation by him and upon that interpretation, there depends the life of ten, a hundred or even a thousand others. In making that decision, he cannot but feel a certain anguish."

...wait what?

"-despite the scale, all men certainly know that anguish from the choices they make." Then he suddenly found his gusto, from god knows where, gaining great fervor in his speech. "But it does not prevent their acting however! For on the contrary Shield, it is the very CONDITION of their action tha-"

"O.M.G! It totally _is_ you isn't it?!"

The perky voice snapped him out of it while having us both simultaneously turn toward the red-headed waitress we had failed to notice walk over to our table. One could only hope that she hadn't overheard anything important. "I saw you from the bar and I was like, oh my gosh, no way! Long time no see! I mean, we haven't seen each other since karaoke night right?! Oh my gosh, people still talk about that. Especially with all the news out about Commander Shepard right now-"

But judging by her disposition, I probably had nothing to worry about. Probably.

"Ah...Rita, right?" I decided to counter.

"Woah, you...you actually remembered! Wow! I'm flattered. It was so long ago I was afraid you'd be like, 'who's this weird chick talking to me' ha ha. Your name was Maro Shield right?"

"Close enough ha ha. Ha."

"Oh, it's not? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- oh my gosh. I almost forgot why I walking over here. I just wanted to ask you if you've been on the extranet lately. How someone actually recorded your performance during karoake night and linked it to our homepage online? With all of our other last performances? And since it's been up, it's like, taken on a life of its own?"

"Uh...no."

"It was like trending on all the Systems Alliance affiliated servers and Commander Shepard fan sites. An Alliance reporter even came in to interview Doran about it! The whole thing's just been amazeballs."

"Oh. Wow. Cool. Haha. So, who did that. Who submitted that video? Who submitted that video in particular? So I can...thank them. Haha."

"Right?!" she exploded, practically ecstatic. "I think the user who submitted it to our site was like SironaGal212 or something but-"

"What the- oh. Yeah. I know who that is. Oh yeah, definitely. Yes sirree. I'll be sure to _really _thank her for all that...publicity the next time I see her." And by thank her, I mean I'll kill her.

The general cleared his voice across from me. "You wouldn't happen to be discussing the song that goes, ahem, 'You may fight like a Krogan. Or you may run like a leopard. But you will never be better than Commander Shepard'?"

"We totally areeee! And that was an amazing spoken word rendition by the by."

"Thank you." The man then turned back to me. "And...that was you? I would have never presumed..." The gaze he gave was one of sad pity.

She's so dead the next time I see her. I had been a joke up on that stage. She had shown me the video herself the following day hadn't she? And I was straight awful. I mean it was hilarious to watch. But awful. It was hilariously awful.

"So, uh," the waitress started again. "...how have you-"

"Hey, sorry, I don't mean to be a jerk but-"

The red-headed waitress immediately held up her hands, getting the memo. She seemed a bit hurt but...I still had more questions for Petrovsky. Even if everything he had said had been bullshit...anything at all was better than what I currently had.

Nothing.

"Oh, oh yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude on your business here or anything like that. I just wanted to come over and say hey real quick and maybe-"

BANG.

The loud sound that suddenly echoed throughout the club however cut her off. She turned her head toward the bar where the sound had come from, probably in an attempt to cast a sharp glare at whatever the Volus Doran probably just blew up behind it. But to her surprise, as well as my own, the bar had become completely obscured by a wall of smoke that now began to envelop the rest of the room. I noticed two similar clouds were erupting from the entrance and dance floor oddly enough.

Screams soon reverberated throughout the club, with the sounds of broken glass and harsh, deafening sounds of gunfire accompanying them, all in concert with the masked men clad in black currently coming in through the building's windows. And as our table in particular was upended in the chaos, thick noxious fumes swirling around me, obscuring my vision...that all lent me the last clues I needed to figure out what was going on. I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit betrayed. Though I knew this had been coming from the start...it still kind of hurt after our last exchange. Thought he had actually meant well after everything that was said.

But it's not like anything he had even said even made sense. Even if a drop of what Petrovsky said might be true, might account for the original case of this body's owner missing, it's not like a fictional 'memory chip' even came close to explaining MY own circumstances. I mean, there might be an 'invasion of the bodysnatchers' scenario going on here. That might explain why I didn't look like my old self. Sure.

But there was no way I was just a collection of ones and zeroes. Not with the things I know. Not when I know this entire place is fiction to begin with. I mean, he even denied being part of Cerberus. I KNEW the bastard was lying to my face from the start. Though I suppose he could have been telling the truth. He might have not actually joined it yet. It's not like I know anything about him pre-2186. So okay, maybe-

The violent shattering of the glass window to my left, throwing me clear off my seat as two black boots connected with my body, quickly reminded me of my current scenario. The masked man particularly responsible for kicking me off said chair was now in the process of shouting somewhere, standing still over my prone body currently covered in glass. He soon discovered however I was very much still conscious despite his violent entrance. Which he learned specifically upon getting a good kick to the stomach, one so on point that I accidentally ended up sending him back out the window he had originally come in.

Unfortunately, as I tried scrambling to my feet after, I in turn had failed to notice that the party crasher was still tethered by a rope to the floor above this one. I soon found myself smacked across the face with the butt of his rifle as he swung back in, sending me crashing to the floor. And as if the blinding fog wasn't bad enough, my vision was further dazed from the blow, making it especially hard to see where I was going, barely able to even see the hand inches in front of my face as I tried to put some distance-

The masked marauder violently hoisted me up by my collar now, yelling something into his earpiece over the racket around us. Cries of terror and screams of panic abundant, I couldn't make out a single word. He then freed one hand and sent a fist into my jaw, attempting to finish the job I suppose. Didn't quite help in getting a bearing on my situation. But I got enough. This mistake of his would be costlier than his last. My hands that were left alone, still dangling free, dug into my pants, and upon retrieving my weapon, immediately fired two shots into the guy. He stumbled backwards like a drunk, and let go of my shirt while doing so, causing me to ultimately copy him, collapsing to the floor. As I hit the ground again, mouth a bit bloodier, I found that the smoke was now so thick that I couldn't even see what had happened to the guy I had just plugged. In fact, the gas was so thick it was burning my eyes.

Holy SHIT did they burn. The bass of the club was noticeably absent too as the only sounds being made in the club were screams in light of the terrorist attack. In fact, I tried not to scream myself as a face suddenly fell flat in front of me, not inches away from my nose. One I recognized belonging to one Rita the waitress.

She was definitely alive though from the way air was escaping her lips. Just unconscious. Nose a little bloody though. I'm sure she'd be fine. Didn't have much time to affirm that though as another black-clad person knelt down, apparently intent on checking how bad they had busted up her face. A quick look up caused them to realize they had more pressing matters to attend to.

And as I lifted my trusty Predator at them and uttered the magic words-

_Adrenaline Rush._

...I found that nothing happened. Not an ounce of rush. Not a smidgen of adrenaline. I just got a whole lot fat of nothing. Just like at the club back in Manash district. But I couldn't dwell on it. Time waited for no man like Petrovsky had just said. The lying snake.

Not when they didn't have adrenaline rush anyway.

And so in the end, I didn't even have time to fire my gun. The next thing I knew, this new masked attacker was already on top of me, attempting to wrest my pistol out of my hand. We rolled over thrice before I ended up on top, simultaneously wrenching one of my hands free and smashing the butt of my gun into their mask.

And as I shoved off them, quickly stumbling forward, dramatically yelling Petrovsky's name into the dark, blinding smog around me-

I felt something collide with the back of my skull and all control over my body left me. As I collapsed to the ground, jaw smacking hard against the ceramic floor, surely knocking a few molars loose, I couldn't help but think...damn.

_I really...need...to wear...a helmetBLEH._

* * *

I blinked once as a semi-familiar, oily darkness came into being around me, one borne from a loss of consciousness, eventually enveloping me entirely. As unsettling as always. A slow flickering light from behind me however gave me my cue. Swiveling around to see what the skill board had in store for me this time around, I-

Skill Rank (FAILURE - FAILURE)

Pistol - FAILURE

Shotgun - FAILURE

Assault Rifles - FAILURE

Sniper Rifles - FAILURE

Adrenaline Rush - FAILURE

First Aid - FAILURE

Electronics - FAILURE

Decryption - FAILURE

Fitness - FAILURE

Combat Mastery - FAILURE

Persuasion - FAILURE

*FAILURE*

Available Points: FAILURE

"Oh what the fuck. What the hell is this?!"

The board flickered darkly, the bright sheen it always had previously noticeably absent this time around.

"You little...are you...are you abandoning me too?! What in the actual fuck board? Is this...is this why Adrenaline Rush hasn't been working recently?!"

It's dark light faded.

"You know what. No, you know what? Yeah, this just makes sense. Because if everyone else is shitting on Shield's parade, taking potshots at him while he's down, why not the magical skill board too?!"

The failure's all flashed with a crimson hue to cement that they were indeed, not a good thing. And the board continued to grow dimmer and dimmer and dimmer-

"You can kiss my fat ass Board! Like I even needed you in the first place!"

And just like that, one of the very last things I thought I could rely on disappeared.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Neural Devices**

Neural implants and prostheses are a series of devices that can substitute motor, sensory or cognitive modalities that might have been damaged as a result of an injury or a disease, or even result in the improvement of already existing faculties. Omni-implants provide an example of such a device. These devices form a neural feedback loop activated using a technique called "physical mnemonics", in which the user utilizes a physical gesture to cause neurons to fire in a certain sequence, sending an electrical charge from their implant down to their external 'tool. A device on the omni-tool gathers the feedback sent and processes it, whereupon the processed signal is then transferred to the microcomputer within the omni-tool itself that results in the desired action taking effect, whether it be another wireless transaction or use of an omni-tool's mini-fabricator.

Neural implants are designed to be as small as possible in order to be to minimally invasive, particularly in areas surrounding the brain, eyes or other similar vital features in an organic. These implants typically communicate with their external counterparts wirelessly. Additionally, power is currently received through wireless power transmission through the skin. The tissue surrounding the implant is usually highly sensitive to temperature rise, meaning that power consumption must be minimal in order to prevent tissue damage.

Another example of a neural device is the notorious graybox, which is essentially a collection of snapshots of a person's memories. Launched by Synthetic Insights in 2160 CE and originally developed to help treat neurological diseases affecting memory loss, it was ultimately determined that its implant procedure had dangerous side-effects: should the graybox either need to be removed for maintenance purposes or if it developed software bugs, extensive brain damage would occur. A common issue arising with replacement of most neural devices, including ones as common as biotic implants. Neural implants and prostheses however are still warranting an incredible field of interest despite their age, with the next 'cutting edge' and 'revolutionary new' tech to be released rather often, generating much white noise and muddying the market. Universities and research clinics are still waiting however for the next significant breakthrough in neuroscience, to usher in the next big step in their development...safely integrating a 'smart' VI interface with one's own nervous system.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Ooooh. Crikey mates! Freeze! Have a look here at this little 'un. It's the rare _double_ update. And it's unedited too. Real unedited. This is one of the most feared events in the fandom of self-insert, because a double update, and in some parts of fanfiction, called 'the death of a writer's sanity', are really well-feared for good reason. They're fairly long, possess a lot of typis, and if you don't take a long break between reading it and the last chapter, you have a gewd chance of dying. These types of posts kill a writer's will to create more chapters quicker than most. Woah! Watch out! I think it just made me yawn. Naughty little post. Startin' to get me a bit nervy. Let's move along before it gets itself or someone else hurt. Crikey. What a beaut though. Truly one of the wonders of the fanfiction dot net. Makes yah excited for the appearance of the next good AU don't it? What a find! Until next time gang!

* * *

**In the next chapter: It seems the shoe's on the other foot now! And it doesn't even fit.**

**Tune in next time to Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	39. Nemesis of the Network

_SLAM._

Ungh.

My daily morning routine. Muttering, wincing as my consciousness began to wake, grimacing that I was cruelly being dragged away from my deep slumber. Ripped from the warmth of my covers. The last bastion of pleasure a man had before one's droll morning routine followed. The most awful feeling in the world really. As I awoke this time however, I found my eyes beginning to blink furiously, trying to adjust to the beams of light now assaulting them. Already, my morning had decided to take a shit all over the rest of my day. God did I hate when that happen. Sunlight coming through your window at _just_ the right angle to start hitting your eyes. Awful.

I then immediately came to find that my mouth was dry, my nose stuffy, and I then lazily rubbed my face in a further attempt to now come to. Because something seemed off. And before long, my sight finally returned...only for it to make me to do a double take. I realized the light that shone down over my eyes came from a single fixture above, and that it actually did nothing save to blind me and illuminate a teensy-weensy spot on the floor before me. The rest of the room remained pitch black despite this lighting, an effect that I had to admit was a little off-putting to say the least.

Then I additionally realized I wasn't laying down. In fact, I found myself already sitting up. And upon trying to lift a hand to massage my head, perplexed by the scenario, I found myself oddly restrained. All limbs restrained in fact.

_Oh dear._

"Oh, you're up. I hope you didn't wake because of me."

Out of the inky blackness, with an unsettling clink accompanying their every step...a stark white Turian emerged. Its eyes flitted eagerly over my restrained figure, seeming to find my current struggling to escape the metal shackles tying me down...amusing. And those eyes of it had me worried. Because I had seen eyes like it on a Turian once before. All those weeks ago during that trial in the Citadel Tower. And just like that rogue Spectre's had been...these yellow irises were cruel.

"-though I can't believe you were out so long. We're practically just a dozen light years out from Sahrabarik now. As you Humans say...'you slept like a tree'."

"Log. TI think he expression's slept like a log-"

"Oooh. Then thank you for correcting me. I'll be sure to remember for next time."

I like to think I had spent enough time around Turians now to recognize that faux-smile of theirs when I saw one. A faux-smile currently plaguing his face.

And after some more conspicuous struggling, I decided to eventually add, "...so, uh...where am I again? Just for future reference."

"Ah, my apologies," the Turian replied, stepping out of the circular patch of light before me, entirely disappearing into the dark. "You currently have the luxury of being a valued guest aboard my vessel. I do hope you're stay here has been comfortable so far."

"Snug as a bug," I assured, cautiously peering into the dark after him.

His face immediately popped out of the dark, inches from my own. "You Humans and your idioms...hah. Simply fascinating." The Turian then gave a lazy shove off my cozy seating and took a few steps until he was back in the light. The black arrowhead tattooed from brow to chin only served to further accentuate the toothy grin the Turian was currently wearing as he turned around. "I find your entire kind fascinating to be honest. Some might even call me a homophile."

I decided to let that one go.

"-you're all so abnormally ambitious, so restless, so...individualistic. It's truly mind-boggling how the Relay 314 incident went the way it did despite all that. Did you know only 3.7% of your population volunteers for the military? In contrast to my own people...the Galaxy truly does love diversity does it not? That two cultures possessing doctrines contrasting in every which way, with such differing... souls if you believe in such things...can still yet boast nearly the same amount influence in their environ...truly fascinating."

"...are you sure about that last part? Cause from what I've heard, I don't think Humans are quite on par yet with the Turian Hie-"

"Spirits no. Of course you all aren't. Centuries of difference between societies will create such a gap. But looking at the current trends...give it a few decades. Your species is even projected to join the Council before the turn of the century as laughable as it seems."

Try end of the year bub.

"Wait a second. I'm confused. So...is discussing interstellar politics what I'm currently here for? Because I feel like they're probably much more qualified people around than me to discuss that with."

"Actually, you've hit the...nail on the head? Was that right?"

"Oh, hey, it was. Good job."

"I thank you-"

"-wait. No. Nevermind. That expression would mean what I said just now was correct."

"But it was. That's exactly why you're here...Shield" the pallid alien retorted.

"I would say you've mistaken me for someone else, but you did just say my name so...might you have the wrong Shield perchance?"

"If I did, I would unfortunately have to kill you."

"Oh. Never mind then."

"Let's put it this way. When 'sensitive' information-"

He totally did the Turian air-quote thing.

"-concerning pan-galactic governments is released, the political atmosphere may shift and move, the outcries of news outlets might put voice to the public's outrage, and interest groups will lobby for change, but ultimately, something stays the scales from tipping to far from one side to another. For the result of violent upheaval in our galaxy is...undesirable. When things have been the way they are for so long, and you're in a position quite favorable, is it not wise to stay on the path you're currently on?"

"..."

"...look at me Shield."

"Oh sorry... my mind kind of wandered for a second. What was that last part about governments and people crying again?"

"I know you are here against your will, but I ask that you pay attention. It's important that you know _why_ you're here. For you see, when 'sensitive' information concerning the _Broker_ is released, it _revolutionizes_ the political atmosphere. For the Broker controls it in its entirety. And you currently happen to possess the latter."

"Oh shit."

"Hmph. Do you understand now the-"

"Are you saying Cerberus _wasn't_ responsible for the attack that just happened back at Flux?"

"...when did you first suspect? What gave it away? My lack of hair follicles or oily skin?" The Turian gestured to his face in what I took to be a sarcastic manner.

"Well you never know man. I don't know their hiring policies these days."

And with that knowledge...I guess I owe the general an apology then. Apparently, everything he said...hadn't just been a stupid distraction after all. It actually kind of lifted my spirit a bit. Even if what he said hadn't all been true...he might of really been trying to help me-

"I enjoy the fact that you're keeping your levity in spite of your predicament Shield. Most others immediately grovel when they hear who they upset."

"Well, I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet." I squirmed in the chair a little bit more to see if despair would kick in. Nope. "Guess I just slept too well from that blow to the head...but the Broker wants me huh? Does he really find me that irresistible? My mom used to tell me how handsome I was all the time but-"

"Actually, he does. Ever since he heard the words you spat out during your detainment by Shepard in the airlock of the SSV Normandy, he's been eager to get his hands on you."

"Oh...that. That was a while ago man. I don't remember half the stuff I even say. What exactly interested him during that whole thing again- wait."

"The Broker is a reclusive individual. If you're even allowed to hear a modulation of his voice, it's a great honor. So I guess I should thank you for revealing what you did about him. His previous cover as Operative Kechlu. An accurate rendition of his physical appearance. How he attained his current role as Broker. My status in the network has markedly improved because of all that. For after relaying what I thought was utter bullshit to the Broker himself, he actually confirmed every tidbit."

"...how did you guys know about all that-"

"My favorite question! And like I always say...the Broker hears and sees everything, Human. You were merely interesting to us before. Knowing the identity of one of Cerberus' trained assassins and sending an Alliance admiral to us in exchange for further information on them. Sources saying you went straight to Lorik Qui'in without incident on Noveria, apparently already informed of his evidence on Bel Anoleis' corruption. Even knowing that there was Geth activity on the world of Therum, information at the time even we weren't aware of. And claiming it was all because you were affiliated with us. The Broker doesn't like it when independent parties claim to represent our interests. But when their information is as truthful and as valuable as yours...well." The Turian shrugged. "How you knew the things you did, and how you claimed to use our resources as a front for it all. Like I said. Very interesting."

"...damn. That's...that's just not fair. There's no feasible way you guys should even know half that shit! Unless you-"

"Bugged the ship? Had agents aboard it? Intercepted transmissions being sent back to the Council?"

"You..."

"You see Shield, in the beginning, I was just assigned to monitor the SSV Normandy's progress. Where the vessel went, what objectives its crew were sent to complete, what actions you all took along the way...but that changed after Nepheron. Your words led the Broker to making you my top priority. As I diverted attention away from the Normandy's operations to yourself, I admit, you had me frustrated. I found not much at all. Very little information from the accounts linked to your omnitool. Running facial recognition software on headshots taken of you resulted in nothing coming up in our network. We couldn't even take any hint of your backstory as credible. Though there were things the Broker himself admitted as truth, he was honest enough to admit there were others that weren't."

"...you actually trust what the Broker told you? The most secretive guy in the Galaxy? Are his top agents really that gullible?"

"He has no reason to lie at this point. We had the entire transcript of your conversation with Shepard on that day. Even if he had dismissed it all, I'd still be suspicious about it regardless. But no, he divulged a great deal about himself after that. Like how he had become a member of the Network by replacing the previous Kechlu, and the place of the Old Broker them-self shortly after, once he noticed the previous head's numerous mistakes. How he's acted as the custodian of our network for the six decades since then."

"Oh."

"Your story might have been entirely credible up until that point Shield. Talked a little too much I suppose. As you are apparently apt to do. Your timeline ended to be off by...what? Fifty years?"

"Okay. You caught me. That was a lie. You can pretty much consider everything I say to be one of those though to be fair. If you hadn't caught on by this point."

Shepard sure had.

"Hmph. Well, as I was saying, you had me stumped. One of the largest mysteries in my career. A mystery man who had access to a network as well-informed as our own. Maybe more. That is...until someone got me a look at your equipment."

"...my equipment? What the hell would that tell you-"

My mouth snapped shut as I thought back to what had actually even been originally mine to begin with. What I first woke up with on Eden Prime. How I hadn't given any of it a second thought after I boarded the Normandy. The onyx armor. The omni-tool. And my-

The Turian extended his long arm into the dark and retrieved something. A gun.

My gun.

My...Predator?

"Do you know what we found when the measurements and schematics of this weapon were sent back to this?"

I had no idea. So...should I just come out with the truth?

"Heh...that it's tech didn't match any other out there right? That it was from the fut-"

His abrupt laughter cut me off. "Hahaha, of course it did you fool! I thought I told you to pay attention. I already said...the Shadow Broker knows everything Shield. The Alliance's Offensive Handgun Project. Black Op Skunkworks. Codenamed Harpy. Never saw mass production due to its cost and...unconventional design." The Turian cocked the gun and watched as a heat clip popped out its compartment. "The Broker has dabbled in similar technology. Nothing as unwieldy as this however," he finished, tossing the gun back into the dark, with the sound of it clattering on the floor moments later.

"...what? That...that can't be true. There's no way that gun could already exi-"

I let out a harsh grunt as a balled fist suddenly struck me in the face, causing me to momentarily go blind. The act utterly stunned me. It had seemingly come from nowhere. For...absolutely no reason. And...for the first time since I had woken up...this Turian actually begun to scare me.

"Don't pawn me the same narrative you exchanged with Petrovsky. Missing memory? Hah. I'm neither gullible nor stupid Shield."

"...he's not...when...when did you-"

He gripped me by my hair, peering into my face.

"Why don't you think hard Shield? Think back. I even glanced your way as I left his table."

My eyes flashed wide as I realized I had seen this very Turian's tattooed face before.

The drunken Turian.

"You were at Flux! You talked to him before-"

"That's right. And after seeing you for the very first time...can't say I was impressed."

He let go my hair, taking a few steps back into the light.

"You...so you bugged his table? Called in that hit squad when you had heard enough of what you wanted?"

"At least you catch on quick," the Turian toothily grinned, ghostly pale skin glimmering in the light. "As I was saying however, your firearm was the first tangible hint we obtained about your past. A former black-ops member of the Alliance. Searching its database with this in mind narrowed our search. And we used a much finer comb to look for you. Resulting in the missing case of one...Alexei Leonov. Though from what I gathered...I suppose you're not too fond of that name are you?"

"...can't say I can relate too much to the guy."

"Yes, that was a whole other...'lifetime' ago was it? A man that was honorably discharged after a psychiatric evaluation showed he was no longer fit for duty. A man you decided could no longer live in this world and dropped for the sake of convenience after finding a new identity." He turned around from where he had been pacing. "Am I doing well so far?"

"Look. I honestly have no idea what-"

I felt his hand strike my face, cutting through whatever words I planned to say next. My cheek immediately welled as he retracted his arm almost as lazily as he had sent it my way. He...he had a face of boredom as he did so. Like violently lashing out was passe by this point in his life. The thought of it was sickening.

"I'll tell you once more. So please pay attention. I already said I know it's all a feint. The time for ignorance is over. While Project 'Backdoor' was interesting to hear of...I found no mention of it in Alliance records when we arrived back on board this ship. I mean, the whole show you and Petrovsky put on...bravo. Marvelous acting. After seeing that performance, I say you both should of joined the Tayseri Theatre."

"Fuck you," I spat out now, finding anger welling inside me. Partly out of the pain, but mostly, mostly out of confusion. "You...you have no idea what the hell you're even talking about. I mean...what the hell are you even going on about?"

The Turian's face of bemusement disappeared at the drop of a hat. He only pinched his 'nose' now, letting out another annoyed sigh. "You were planning to meet with him about the betrayal, about how Cerberus abandoned you or something or other, and sometime during the exchange, the man realized you both were being watched and let you know via a code phrase, cutting short whatever you actually planned to discuss."

"...well that's complete and utter bullshit and you know-"

I flinched as the alien waved his hand dismissively in the air. "Fine. You can hold on to your story if you wish. It doesn't really matter. The Broker wanted to hear everything for himself when we arrived at our destination anyway. I just hoped we could speed things along by letting you know Alexei that you have no more secrets left to hide."

"...that's not...wait. So you're taking me to the Broker? We're headed for his ship on Hagalaz right now?" Feron's fate in Lair of the Shadow Broker didn't fail to immediately pop up in my head. And was extremely unsettling to think about at this moment. I...I could wind up like him for...what? How long was he in that prison?

...Two years?! I-

"There it is again! Hahahaha!" I recoiled as the lunatic began laughing. "Just how...how did you know that?! It took me twenty three years before I learned that myself. When I became one of the Broker's right hand men. There are no more than a dozen operatives even aware such a location exists asides from its crew. And yet you...hahahaha." My face drained of color as I realized that I had just splurted something stupid again. I did not like this. In fact, I found myself wishing I was still very much on the Citadel, very much continuing my insufferable self-deprecation. "So...Cerberus knows where the Broker currently stays does it? Then I'm glad I did this. That's something the Broker would surely love to hear once we dock. I suppose we'll have to scuttle the network's ship and find somewhere new after all this is said and done."

"...you think I know all this because...I'm an agent of Cerberus or something?"

"The only logical conclusion don't you think? I'll admit I still don't understand what exactly the nature of your meeting with Petrovsky was. I'll give you that much since the scales are so strongly skewed in the Broker's favor...whether you're still a member or not...yes. I suppose we'll figure that out together won't we? I'm personally just glad we finally found you after the whole incident in Manash. I still cannot believe that our tail utterly lost you in the Presidium, as soon as Shepard had kicked you off her ship no less. I had hoped for that event in particular when I told her that you weren't affiliated with us but...that freelancer completely botched it."

"...you were the one who caused all that?"

"He was quite useless, I must say."

"...how long have you had people watching me?"

The Turian only smiled as he ignored me. "But who would've thought you'd find your way to us again, all the way out in the boondocks of the lower wards? I don't think we would have even found you if it hadn't been for Hodda Nar Tasi-"

...Old Man Quarian? He was...one of them?

"Oh, you were quite familiar with him, were you not?" the Turian next croaked, seeing the surprise that must have been on my face. "Please, don't hate him for that. He didn't know that we were searching for you particularly. He was just reporting events to the network as usual. Rather poor luck for you I suppose-"

...dammit. Things had really been this bad all along huh? From the very start...did I ever really even have a chance to begin with? Petrovsky. Old Man Quarian. Someone on the Normandy even. Maybe even one of the crew...Wrex. Liara. Chakwas. Tanaka. Felawa. Henderson...Joker? Who had been telling lies and who hadn't? I mean...shit. At this point, who was even telling the truth to begin with? Who could really even be trusted at this point...

And then I smiled as I realized it for the first time.

"Shield...look at me."

Well, to be fair, I already knew this deep down all along. Kind of. Which is why I guess I never truly faulted her for it. Though she was still kind of a bitchy in general...her hate of me was perfectly fine. Because...she was just trying to protect herself-No. That was just me. I had been selfish. For me, it was all just about self-preservation. For her...she was just trying to protect her crew. Trust, right? That's what a mission needed to succeed. That's what it was all about at the end of the day. And currently...I wasn't someone that could currently warrant it. That's why I'm currently where I am now-

"AGH!"

"Didn't I tell you to pay attention when I'm talking to you Human?"

Had to admit, my cheek seared with pain as the person retracted the claw they had just used to rake my face. Probably looked like Martin Riggs at the end of Lethal Weapon 2 by now.

"Real tough huh?" I found myself immediately spitting back, ignoring the blood that was now welling around my eye. "Big man! Real big to be knocking around someone who can't even hit back! Heh. You fuckin' coward. Take off these restraints and I bet you wouldn't be so tough-"

I immediately flinched as he brought his hand up again. But instead of feeling another strike, I only heard him chuckle. And I could only feel a dark sense of foreboding as the course noise reached my ears.

"-hehe...so you're one of those huh? Look, who are you trying to impress here? Take a good look around. It's just you and me friend. And while I'm flattered you'd want to put a show on for me, I've seen it too many times to count. It's gotten old." He leaned in close enough that I could now feel his breath on my face. "There's no reason for such a...ludicrous facade. I know that had to hurt. You can let a few tears fly if you want. I won't judge. I mean, I know my claws are pretty sharp. I don't file them often." He clacked his talons together as his yellow irises rapidly flit across my face. Then he leaned in closer. "Or on the other hand...I suppose I should give you some credit. You've lasted this long. Maybe you're just as tough as you're saying you are-"

Like the idiot I was, I decided to become a cliche and spit into his eye. One last act of defiance before what came next. Was it worth it as he hit me again? As half my face was now beginning to balloon up? Probably not. But it was nice to feel like I did something before I lost the ability to even entertain such a notion. The black tattoos that covered his face were as dark as the room around us, and now his demeanor came to match them as well. The Turian's otherwise alabaster face became decidedly grim, uncharacteristically serious as he reached for something behind his back.

"Hm. I guess we'll find out together then. He does want to see you himself...but you know, he never explicitly told me how pretty your face had to be."

And as usual, I couldn't help but run my mouth again. And the worst part is that I didn't even have anything to witty to say. Missed opportunities I tell you. There's always room for bad-ass one-liners in a situation like this. I mean, there's always room for bad-ass one-liners in every situation but you know what I'm just rambling now.

"Wow, _real_ scary. Man, I gotta say...get bent you two-bit, Vorcha cocksucker. That sounded like something from a Blasto Holo-vid. I mean dear lord, were you even _trying?_ Was that supposed to scare me into talking? I hope you can do better than that. Because if that's all you got, then you can just kill me right now because-"

"Keep running your mouth," he suddenly spoke in a low tone. "I take it back. I've never actually had someone as talkative as you. It's kind of refreshing."

A chill went down my spine as a lull fell in the conversation.

"Oh hey! Fun fact. Did you know that threatening to pry open a Krogan's headplate makes them beg like a Red Sand addict fixing for a hit? Or that splintering a Salarian's cranial horns tends to give one the same result? Every alien has that one thing just loaded with sensitive nerve-endings I tell you. For Humans...I hear the body part most akin to those are your fingers. Those cuticles on your fingers to be exact." Like a sub-par Bond villain, he revealed a knife, god knows from where, and I couldn't say that I was able to mask my fear as I began to process the very last thing he said. "Hehe...as a fan, I'm sure you recognized _that_ was a line from the last Blasto...but the funny thing is...I actually agree with the Rogue Councilor. I find what he said to be oh so very, very true. Or the first two in any case. To be honest, I've never had the pleasure to test that last part yet. Can you believe that? You Humans usually squeal before I even get that far. But for you...I guess you get to be my first. Want to find out how true those words are together?"

He now brandished the fifteen centimeter serrated blade like a child, moving it toward my cuffed hand with a facile smile and off-kilter jubilee. And then-

I let out a shout and twisted my head away as he suddenly and violently sunk his blade into my left hand in one swift motion. My teeth ground and my eyes shot shut but...

But oddly enough, I felt no pain. Slowly...cowardly...I looked back to where the knife was, which was currently severing one of the fingers from my palm. But...it had only been one of the replacements Doctor Michel gave me. A metallic digit serving as a prosthetic. A finger that was now back to a stub as the Turian slowly removed the blade from the metal armrest. The terror that had just gripped my heart quickly disappeared. But that was before the Turian spoke again.

"Now that I have your attention, if you would please be so kind, recount what exactly Cerberus has been having you do since your discharge from the Alliance. Anything will do to be honest. In fact, share one thing, and I'll spare one finger. Does that sound fair? I think so. Why don't we even start with this one here." The Turian now edged his knife toward the pinky on my right, holding the finger out with his other set of talons, keeping me from hiding it within my fist. Slowly massaging the tip of his weapon into the tight space, already wedging it in, squeezing it in between my finger and nail. Point already antagonizing my phalange-

"OKAY! Alright! Alright! Stop! Stop stop stop. Please stop. I'll tell you something. Anything Just stop. Please-"

"Hmph." The Turian smiled. "I'm afraid that saying you'll tell me something isn't the same as telling me something. So-"

My heart went still before he pushed the blade forward.

"FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK FUCK fuck fuck fuck FUCK FUCK! FUCK!"

I could only scream expletives as tears begun creeping down my face, legs shooting up, back arched, pain the only thing my head could process as it blinded every sensation, had me in the truest sense of the word, wishing for death, searing heat shooting through my body. I would do anything in the world just to make it stop at this moment. Just the few seconds it had been in had felt like hours. Like there was nothing else in the world besides me and it.

And it had only been inserted what? Centimeters in?

I wouldn't last. I couldn't.

I could only heave as the knife was retracted, pulling back out of my bloody finger, slowly, painfully, sadistically, before being laxly wiped against the alien's pant leg.

"So...on to the next one I suppose."

But nothing came to my mind as he moved on to the next finger. I couldn't move my lips. My face was frozen as the weapon lined itself up again. All that I could think of was the searing pain. How blank my mind had just been. The horrific pain. Nothing registered or responded anymore. What it had felt like when that blade-

Blade.

Blade.

Blade. Blade blade blade blade-

My eyes traced a line from the stainless steel blade to the hand it approached, mind plagued by panic.

But I took a deep breathe in spite of this, shutting my eyes close, recalling what that manual had said all those weeks ago.

Then I flexed every muscle in my body.

I once again retrained my eyes on my right hand, focusing all my thoughts on it.

_Channel it. Think it. Want it._

I flicked my wrist as well as I could as the knife planted itself at the tip of my next finger, feeling the cold serrated metal press against my flesh.

And I then uttered the singular phrase in my head-

_OMNIBLADE._

Specific gestures or muscle movements. Actions that fire the proper sequence of nerves necessary to activate a certain skill through biofeedback devices and physical mnemonics. Things present in objects such as biotic amps and...omni-tools. It wasn't anything like magic after all. It was science. It was all right there in the manual from the beginning.

The shackles on my wrist vehemently exploded away as a disposable, forked, silicon-carbide blade conveniently forged by my omni-tool miniature fabricator came into existence. The diamond-hard blade suspended by mass effect fields simultaneously flung the weapon of the Turian, just nanometers from my finger, away as well.

The pronged blade's mass effect fields then illuminated what I found to be a fairly small storage room with its orange light, with the added plus of showing me the sudden shock the Turian currently wore on his face as the weapon manifest itself. The alien then quickly leaped back as my instincts took hold, swinging my arm as hard as I could towards his face.

Though I didn't hit it...I did somehow end up nicking his throat, causing the alien to let out a guttural cry as he stumbled backwards, clenching it tightly with his recently freed hands. I wasted no time in bringing down the blade on my other cuffed hand. Though I seared my own flesh just a tad too well...and though my blade had shattered upon its second use...both hands were now free.

_OMNIBLADE._

It materialized again, and I quickly repeated the motion on my leg cuffs, causing the blade to shatter once again on the second swipe, and for me to then fall forward to the ground after...once again free. I then quickly flicked my wrist as I shot up, summoning the forked orange sword of flame as I turned my eyes back toward my former captor, who still had one hand on his throat...and the other once again on his previously lost knife.

"You-" he managed to gurgle, pointing the serrated weapon in my direction. "I'll pay you back a hundred-fold for this. You're going to wish you let me saw off every one of those fingers by the end of this day after what I do to you. Then the Broker will do even worse. You don't realize who the FUCK you just missed with Alexei-"

"Blah. Blah. Blah Blah Blah." I put on my best rendition of an inept Shadow Broker agent before pointing my own blade in his direction. "That's all I hear anymore. And frankly, I'm fucking tired of it. I think I've heard _more _than my fair share of blowhards monologuing over the course of this ENTIRE last week. How I should live, who I should be, what I'm going to be sorry for and yadda, yadda, YADDA- JESUS CHRIST. I've heard so many even I'm doing it now." The alien's eyes now narrowed in rage, mouth practically frothing. "Real tired of it. So I think I'm just gonna end up ignoring everything everyone said and live however I feel like. So I'll tell you what YOU, your Shadow Broker, and every other soul on that god-forsaken Citadel can do." The Turian tensed as I suddenly gripped my crotch with my left hand, minus one finger. "Each and everyone one of y'all can suck my LEFT NUT-"

The Turian lunged faster than I anticipated, almost causing me to miss my chance and shit my pants...almost being the key word. I jumped back as I saw the predator's feet leave the ground and in one smooth motion, quickly flicked my right arm upward, omni-blade connecting with my attacker's knife, sending it flying thru the air. I then planted my feet firmly into the ground below me, and upon windmilling my arm, thrust the _Verteron Prong_ Omir had sold me right smack dab into the Turian's gut.

Blue blood was immediately hacked up onto my face, and as I removed my hand from his stomach, blade having already dispersed, I decided to give him one last present. I quickly cocked my hand back and with a loud CRACK, smashed it into the Turian's jaw, sending him to the floor.

"...and the name's Shield. Marauder Shield. Alexei Leonov was so 2178." I took a few steps and bent over to pick up the weapon that had been sent scattering earlier...and while I was at it, why not, took the knife too. "...because yeah. _That's_ how you do a one-liner." I then turned to look at the unconscious Turian bleeding behind me. And then the wall beside me. And then lastly at the ground.

"...who am I even talking to. I need to stop that."

* * *

After I had turned on the lights to the room, I found that the chair I had been strapped to was actually located in a cargo bay. A fairly small one at that. A couple cages and crates lay scattered about where the darkness once enveloped them, and on the off chance he was still alive...I got a medi-gel stim from a dispensary on the wall, plugged the bastard in the stomach with it, and then decided to stuff the body of my Turian captor into one of said crates. I suppose I wasn't at a point to ruthlessly cut people's throats yet once they were unarmed and helpless so...it would do for now. I mean, heave him into a cage, pocket the key, bing bang boom. Ship captured. What else needs to be done?

Or so I thought.

Upon leaving that cargo bay, I found a narrow passage way before me, no more than a couple dozen yards long, indicating the size of the vessel I was currently aboard. Small. And after carefully checking each of the four rooms save one, I determined it was empty. Though the sounds of a pilot humming from the ship's cockpit told me otherwise.

A sharp hit to the Salarian's head after creeping up behind him was enough to knock him out.

I had thought.

"OW! What the hell Gellix-"

And then that turned into an entirely different thing as he gasped in shock upon seeing who hit him, and I ended up wrestling around with the pilot a bit before being able to hit him across the face a couple times to finish the job. Kind of felt like an asshole while doing it because the guy seemed utterly terrified and squealed during the entire thing but you know...if he wasn't with _me_...I ended up throwing him into the same cage as the Turian.

And here I currently sat in the cockpit, sucking on my bloodied finger, rolling my shoulder with the aching gun-shot wound from days before, at a loss. Because yeah. What was there to do next? Continue on the ship's current trajectory to the Shadow Broker's pleasure barge and subsequently get boarded by a bunch of his goons? No thank you. Head back to the Citadel when I still had not a single credit to my name and where nothing but ruin and destruction followed me wherever I went? No thank you. So-

Huh.

It was interesting now that I actually had a chance to think to myself after everything that's happened. How everything already seemed like it had happened years ago. The bar hopping, the run in with...the run in with Zael. The visit to Doctor Michel and my new prostheses, which now needed replacement actually. I was currently missing a finger thanks to that Turian douchebag the Salarian had called 'Gellix'. Then of course...all those days at the Shitadel just...living. Just doing nothing. Thinking about nothing. Nothing...until that one day...

I guess I was just feeling sorry for myself. That was essentially the entirety of my stay there. Thinking about how I had nowhere to go in this entire galaxy. How lonely it was. No home. No family. No friends. Just hoping that something would happen out of the blue, that I'd be lucky enough to just be put back into the game and be able to do something. Heh. 'Game'.

I had to sigh. Because that shit never helps anything. Sure, I messed up. Who doesn't? We all make mistakes like one Quarian once said. Was the death of Admiral Kahoku and extinction of the once sentient race of Rachni because of my own? Maybe. Did I stop Captain Ventralis from murdering Binary Helix's staff in Peak 15 on Noveria? Not really. Was I responsible for what happened to Zael since that Old Man Quarian had asked me to watch him specifically? Pretty much. But yeah, just being nihilistic and crying woe is me never did anything except stroke your ego. Utterly fucking pointless. My ego was big enough as it is.

I flicked a random switch on the dashboard in front of me.

There were so many buttons. Too many options.

...so what should I do? With everyone that's been talking at me, everybody that's been trying to get in my head recently-

**(**Continue Playtrack 2...Music by High School Musical 2. Bet On It. (C) 2007 Walt Disney Records.**)**

* * *

Zac Efron – Bet on It. (2:15) [YOU WONT]

* * *

_Woah – hold up._

Well...I guess this is happening-

_It's no good at all..._

Unintentionally in concert, I looked up only to see a sad reflection in the ship's window before me-

_-to see yourself, and not recognize, your faaace. _

And is that really who I am? A shade of some dead guy?

_Out on my ooown, it's such a scaaaary plaaaace. _

...no. No, that's not me

_Ooooh._

...tell 'em Zac.

_The answer's are all, inside of meeeeee. _

...aren't they?

_All I gotta doooo-_

...yeah. They are, aren't they?

_\- is belieeeeeeve. _

No, you know what Zac? You're right.

_I'm not, gonna stop._

No, I'm not.

_Not gonna stop 'til I get my shot._

I'm gonna take that shot.

_That's who I am. _

Who I am? Who _I_ am?!

_That is my plan. _

Yeah I have a plan!

_Will I end up on top? You can Bet on It._

You choose the person you want to be.

_Bet on it. Bet on it. Bet all you can. Bet on it. Bet on it. Bet on it. Bet on meeeee._

Any possibility, anything at all can be yours from this moment onward. You cannot change the past-

_I want to make it right. That is the way-_

-you can only go forward.

_To turn my life around, today is the day. _

...that's what they had all said right?

_Am I the type of guy who means what I say?_

And I already made a promise with myself, didn't I?

Stop Saren. Stop Sovereign. Go home...that was the deal, wasn't it?

You can bet it was.

...now how exactly does one fly a space ship again?

_YOU CAN BET ON ME._

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Blasto Anthology**

Blasto is a fictional hanar character that has been featured in numerous films since 2000 CE. The Hanar is most commonly known as the galaxy's first hanar Spectre, with mostly action-oriented films released that detail his exploits. Though there has not been a true 'sequel' to the original classic first directed by Asari director Relya T'Awoa since 2001 CE, the original actor for 'Blasto', Wecand, has starred in the dozens of spin-offs and loosely-connected semi-canonical releases since. The Hanar is one of the most commonly used memetic mutations among online communities, with flame wars often beginning after debate arises among which 'Blasto' is the best after the original work. Woe to those who actually prefer one of the anthology works to the classic which kicked off the franchise. In the most recent film in the series, 'Blasto discovers the Prothean Beacon', the Hanar Spectre lands on Kahje to investigate a recently uncovered Prothean Beacon. However, things go awry once he discovers that the Drell mad scientist onsite has been brainwashed and has replaced the artifact with a fake, leading Blasto on a nebula-wide hunt to track down the missing Enkindler tech and uncover the insidious machinations behind who would do such a thing, involving such characters as a Krogan banker on the edge of losing everything, a loose-cannon Vorcha who doesn't play by the rules, and a Batarian hooker with a heart of gold. The shocking conclusion of the film made audiences gasp when it turns out the entire plot was the result of the first Human Spectre and Turian Councilor having gone rogue, attempting to release a techno-plague to wipe out all non-Humanoturian life! A twist that has incited some groups such as Terra-Firma, protesting it as racist (or is it speciest?), while many others upon box office release, including Humans, praise the movie's twist as 'bold', 'innovative', and 'haha, I always thought that Human Spectre looked kind of sketchy with that giant handlebar moustache'.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Yeah. That all just happened. Lucky you reader, that you got to witness it all here first hand in the flesh.

I apologize for nothing.

Bonus points to whoever knows who the manufacturer of the Harpy pistol is in game! And a dozen points to whoever thinks they know who the Shadow Broker mole on the Normandy iiiis~

**Reviews:**

Maybe it's Maesde, maybe it's maybelline: Yeah. I _am_ awesome aren't I? I just knew my family, friends, school, community, and countrymen were all wrong.

That Elvis Guy: You say you liek cliffhangers? Then, oh, I'll give you cliffhangers. You don't even kno.

Deku~kun: And lastly...I am a benevolent god. You may have your single chapter. And you may now mail my cookies to this address: [Address Redacted]

* * *

**In the next chapter: ...well that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.**

**Tune in next time to Mass Effective: A HERO MADE!**


	40. Underestimating the Underdog

"That's the last one. We should be able to reach them from here."

The Commander calmly gazed over the balcony of the gate as the lieutenant gave her their sitrep. Gazing out at the ocean's horizon, her vision occasionally blinded by the shine coming off the bright blue waters of the coastal channel below, she admitted...she felt a sense of tranquility she hadn't felt in a long while. Not since this months' long mission first began.

"Nothing between us and that camp now," her Krogan added, rolling his shoulders as he passed by.

Thunder suddenly cracked overhead, drawing her attention to the dark clouds looming over the once sunny coast in the distance. They wouldn't have much time before the storm arrived.

She smirked.

"Then let's go pay those Salarians a visit."

She came down the structure's stairwell last after Kaidan and Wrex, finding Ashley and Garrus still stationed outside the Mako, still staring down their scopes, currently scanning a few peculiar rock formations up ahead.

But they no longer needed words to communicate now. The two quickly stopped what they were doing as they approached, and folded their guns as the Mako's doors opened back up. She pulled herself in first, immediately sliding into the Mako's control seat, with Ashley following soon after, taking back the main gun from Hector. The other three followed their lead, reclaiming their seats next to the several squad members who had remained inside.

Flicking on the overhead lights, shifting the clutch, the Mako made a jerk as she gunned the vehicle's engines forward.

"Commander, the Normandy's touched down at the base, but it looks like we're grounded. The Salarian Captain can explain when you get here." Joker's voice brought her back to reality. There would be time to stop and finally rest once Saren was dead. Until then, she needed to focus. "There's also something else but, uh...I'll let you see for yourself."

"Copy that."

The Commander floored it as the Mako took the next turn, spinning its wheels in the sand as it banked along the shallows.

"There is the Salarian camp!"

And Liara's observation, though unnecessary, was correct. Up ahead was a large beachhead, with intermittent tents set up along its shoreline in front of a massive white wall. The Normandy was currently touched down, hovering over the ocean further to the right of the camp, with two other beached vessels nearby on the sand. Both of them looked like they had come into contact with the Geth's anti-air defenses upon landing. Shepard wasted no time as she drifted into the lagoon, bringing the tank to a sudden stop. Quickly unbuckling herself, she nodded to her team before opening the vehicle's hatch.

It was time.

The Salarian she took as the head of the operation was already nearby the water, currently speaking with one of her crewmen, in the middle of discussing why the Normandy was apparently beached. It wasn't until they turned around and opened their mouth did Shepard realize her mistake.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to pop on by! It's about time. We were starting to think you wouldn't show!"

"Wha...Shield?"

She had to blink twice as Ashley said the name, because despite everything, despite having made sure of it herself, despite ridding herself of him more than a week ago...here that bastard was. Here the traitorous son of a bitch stood, face rife with cuts and lacerations, covered in dirt and sweat, a knife and gun tucked haphazardly into their hip, acting like he had never even left their side at all. She already had her pistol unholstered as she growled in response.

"What the hell are you doing here."

Was he intercepting the Normandy's transmissions? He couldn't have gotten the information from a crewman, and she had had Fantum and Adams' crew sweep for bugs after his dismissal. How in the hell-

"Why we're here? Well, I'm sure the Captain can get you up to speed on that. Kirrahe?"

The treacherous bastard ignored her question entirely, opting to instead turn to the Salairan beside him. And the bright green alien took that as their cue to open their mouth next. "Thank you Shield. I've heard much about you from him Commander. I'm Captain Kirrahe. Third Infiltration Unit. STG. You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hot zone. Every AA gun within 10 miles that has been preventing our incursion has now been alerted to your presence. But when the rest of your reinforcements from the Council arrive, we'll be able to finally start phase one-"

"Oh. I guess I forget to mention...these are the reinforcements."

And that was when Shepard truly realized Shield had already wormed his way into their operation. How long had he been here before them, sticking his nose where it didn't belong-

"What?!" The Salarian turned his disbelief in Shepard's direction. "You're all that was sent? I told the Council we needed a fleet!" Then the alien turned back to the traitor. "You mentioned Alliance warships Shield!"

"Oh. Warship. Singular. Sorry."

"We couldn't understand your transmission," Shepard barked, determined to first settle their current miscommunication issue before addressing Shield's unwelcome presence. "They sent me to investigate."

"That is a repetition of our task. I lost half my men 'investigating' this place."

Shepard's temper grew as the Salarian snapped at her.

"So what have you found?" Kaidan quickly asked.

"I'll take it from here Captain. Ahem." Shield suddenly dropped his annoying smile as he met her harsh stare head-on. "Now I'm sure you have some questions Shepard-"

"You don't even know how much shit you're in Shield."

"Shepard look-"

"Is there a problem here?" The Salarian was quick to inquire now that he caught wind that the man currently beside him might not be what he claimed. Which she was now learning was classic for the man. No matter the situation. So she answered in Shield's stead.

"Captain this man is a known liar and seditionist-"

"Seditionist?"

"Anything he's told you is most likely a lie. He is most certainly not affiliated with me or my crew in any fashion despite what he may have already told you."

"...is this true Shield? I thought you said you were an advance scout under this vessel's command."

"Welllll...that's technically true. I am a scout. Just of my own volition. And I WAS under command of the Normandy. Until recently."

"If you aren't with the Council, then how did you possibly come to learn about this operation?"

"Well now that's a funny story. One that I can tell at a later time when-"

"Answer the question Shield."

Her biotics flared reflexively as she tightened her grip around the handgun hanging by her side.

The man ignored her completely however, wearing a mask of annoyance as he chose to address the Salarian instead. "I've been genuine about everything we talked about Kirrahe. The layout of the base, its nature and purpose, the rest of the plans we made...I didn't deceive you about any of it. Believe me. I mean you're part of the Special Tasks Group. I like to think you'd be good enough to see through a thinly veiled lie."

"I don't possess a lie detector on me Shield."

She had had enough.

"Ashley, Hector, take him back to the Normandy's bridge. I want to know how he's been listening to our comms-"

The liar didn't flinch however, as he now met her stare head-on, holding out his hand in response. His eyes were harsher than she remembered. "You can do whatever you want with me after we're done here. But the task at hand is infinitely more important than this bickering Shepard. I'll tell you _all_ about my misadventures since we split ways after this, but until then, why don't you just listen to me? Hear what I have to say? I thought you actually _cared_ about stopping Saren-"

She felt her blood boil as the words left his mouth, enraged with how he had just spoken to her. How the arrogant bastard had the gall to even utter the phrase...after everything she's done, everything that she's _been_ through over the past few months to stop that madman...and yet he had the fucking-

"Shepard, for what it's worth...I think we should at least hear him out."

She turned to Garrus behind her in disbelief. And then Kaidan as he raised a brow and gave a reluctant nod, as if to say what's the harm?

She had always known they still trusted him in some small fashion. They never had been as wary of him as herself. But...dammit. Dammit because she knew they were right at the end of the day. Because Shield was just an annoyance compared to their true objective. A fly in their ointment compared to the rogue Spectre Saren. So reluctantly...a gruff "I do," grudgingly escaped her lips before she curtly followed it with her real question.

"What's going on here."

Shield only gave a small smile in response. "...thanks Commander." Then he gave a sidelong glance to Kirrahe before addressing the fire team behind her. "Alright, so, first of all...nice to see you all again. Hope you've all been well. Wish the circumstances could have been better but I suppose I'll take what I can get-"

"Just tell us the situation Shield, stop wasting our time."

"Haha, I missed you too Ash wait now. Are you...is that my armor?"

"Oh, this old thing?" Ashley coyly glanced down at the Janissary line armor that had once been worn by that man. "I just happened to find it inside our spare locker. And since no one else seemed to be using it-"

"Well I appreciate you keeping it warm for me. I want it back."

"Finders keepers Shield."

"Uh huh huh I think not. Did _you_ receive it as a gift for saving the lives of eight Hahne-Kedar scientists-"

"Uh, can you guys get a room later? I thought we were in the middle of mission brief here."

PFC Clark ended up cutting in before she had done so herself.

Shield's face quickly reddened before coughing into his hand. "Ahem. Right." He then annoyingly glared at Williams before continuing what he had started ages ago. "Anyhoo, like I was saying, you all have the pleasure of currently finding yourselves right smack dab in the middle of Saren's most important hideout in the Traverse. A research facility of his, currently maintained by an army of Geth, and a very large handful of Krogan super soldiers. Lucky us."

And the words instantly changed her mood.

"Saren's here? Have you seen him?!"

"No, but-"

"He's here Shepard," the traitor said, speaking over Kirrahe. "I can confirm it."

"Shield has been adamant about this intel, though we haven't been able to prove its veracity ourselves."

"...he's here."

"...you mentioned this is a research facility?" Liara now spoke up behind her.

"Yes," Shield affirmed.

"...what exactly is he researching?" Kaidan asked next, aware of what Liara had really been asking.

"Uh-"

Kirrahe decided to share the information himself once Shield appeared reluctant to.

"Shield already mentioned the answer. Saren's using the facility to breed an army of Krogan."

Shepard didn't fail to follow Shield's awkward glance at Wrex in particular.

"...how is that possible?" her Krogan slowly murmured himself, as if waking from a stupor, closing the gap between him and the Salarian rather quickly. Shepard had already connected the dots as to why Shield had avoided sharing that information with the company currently present.

"I thought the Krogan couldn't breed in large numbers?" Tali chirped in turn.

"Apparently, Saren has discovered a cure to the Genophage."

Shepard could only close her eyes in response. "The Geth are bad enough. With a Krogan army...he'd be almost unstoppable." That couldn't happen.

"Exactly my thoughts. We must ensure that this facility and its secrets are destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Shepard opened her eyes again as Wrex snarled beside her. "I don't think so. My people are dying. This cure can save them."

Kirrahe ignored him, continuing to address her.

"If that cure leaves this planet, the Krogan would be unstoppable. We can't make the same mistake again."

The Krogan closed the distance between him and the Salarian in the blink of an eye, demanding Kirrahe's attention this time around. "We are NOT a mistake." Staring him down, Wrex suddenly snorted and veered off as quickly as he had come, marching away toward the beach on their right. A STG member several feet away lowered their rifle in conjunction, and the eyes of her entire team seemed to cautiously follow the alien's war path. And one of Shepard's worst fears was now coming to light. That after all this time, at the end...she couldn't trust the Krogan to control himself.

"...is he going to be a problem? We already have enough angry Krogan to-"

"I'll talk to him."

And the voice responsible surprised her.

"And why do you think you're suited to that role in any way, shape, or form Shield?"

In response to the barb, the man just smiled. "Trust me Shepard. I can do it." Then with an even cockier grin, he turned back to the Salarian beside him. "Alright Captain, why don't you wrap up the brief and tell 'em your plan to finish Saren off? I got a date with a Krogan."

And before she had time to object, the man was already going after Urdnot Wrex.

"Alright then." The Salarian cleared his throat to gain everyone else's attention. "As Shield has already mentioned, we have devised a plan to siege Saren's base of operations and eliminate it. We won't need to change much even without the expected reinforcements, but I will be honest, that will significantly decrease the odds of our success."

"So what exactly is your plan?"

"Shield's plan actually. Don't let his modesty fool you. His suggestions and general advisement were critical in its creation."

"Shield."

"Yes, it's actually quite hard for me to fathom why you'd let such a talented operative go despite his record. He has a mind rivaling that of a Salarian. I have half a mind to recruit him into my team myself."

"Shield. This being the guy who once asked me for advice on how to delete his extranet history. The guy so immature he once blinded Felawa with Elcor porn because he thought it a riot?" Hector's skepticism entirely encapsulated her own.

A shotgun blast caused several heads to turn, but Shepard ignored it as Kirrahe continued on, similarly indifferent to the noise.

"Yes. Poor humor aside, he was the one suggested the proposal that we convert our beached ship's drive system into twenty-kiloton ordinance. While crude, extremely effective. The weapon's drive system is highly impervious to damage from external sources. Once it has been armed, very little can stop it."

"Nice going Shield. Drop that nuke and Saren can kiss his Turian ass goodbye."

"I still can't take this guy seriously. Shield. Really?"

"Regardless, sounds like a plan to me. What's the hold-up Salarian?"

The Salarian shook his head at Ashley, Hector and Clark's words. "Unfortunately, the facility is too well-fortified for that. Without a fleet to screen the ship carrying it, we'll need to place the bomb at a precise location."

That was extremely unfortunate, and caused Shepard to curse under her breath.

"So where do we take the nuke? And how do we get it there?"

"After brainstorming, we reasoned the bomb must be taken to the far side of the facility. Shield suggested the breeding grounds in particular, which our reconnaissance supported, as it was revealed the location had geothermal taps connected to the deeper depths of the facility. Your ship can drop the bomb off, but we'll need to infiltrate the base on foot, disable the AA guns barring entry, and pacify any ground forces first."

"You want us to go in on foot?" Kaidan objected.

"We saw the pictures from orbit. We don't have enough men," Garrus was quick to point out.

"Hmph. Good." Shepard cracked her neck. The facility had been read to be quite large from the scan. And well-defended. But if Saren was in it...then nothing short of a Reaper would stop her. And even one of them showing their face would only serve to slow her down. "Like that's ever stopped us. I prefer a straight fight anyway."

Captain Kirrahe only shook his head again. "I admire your tenacity but it won't be that simple. We just don't have the numbers to meet them head on. Since I have more men, I'm dividing them into three teams and hitting the main entrance of the facility. While we've got their attention, you can sneak your 'shadow' team into the back."

These Salarians were trained in espionage, not warfare. She highly doubted how long they last if they were the ones making the direct assault. "Then I just hope you survive long enough to be useful."

"We're tougher than we look Commander," the Salarian replied solemnly. "But it's true. I don't expect many of us will make it out alive...and that makes what I'm going to ask even more difficult. I need three of your men to accompany me. To help coordinate each team."

Lightning suddenly cracked in the distance, rolling thunder accompanying it naught seconds later. The storm once hanging over the sea was now over their heads.

"Forget it," the Commander immediately burst out. "I don't make a habit of placing my people under someone else's command."

"I understand, but this mission is too important for personal preferences to get in the way. We need soldiers familiar with Alliance communication protocols to coordinate our teams."

"He's right Commander. We can't do this without both teams at their best. I volunteer."

"Not so fast LT. Shepard will need you to arm the nuke. I'll go with the Salarians."

"Then I'll follow the Chief's lead Commander. You can count on me."

"Shut it Hector. As Private FIRST Class, I-"

"With all due respect soldiers, it's not your places to decide," Kaidan uttered in the middle of Clark's words, clearly frustrated.

"Why is it whenever someone says 'with all due respect' they really mean 'kiss my ass'?"

"All of you quiet! This is my decision. Not yours!"

"Any of these marines will do Commander. All seem willing to sacrifice their lives if necessary, though if we are lucky, such sacrifices won't be required."

Shepard gritted her teeth as the Salarian spoke again. If any of they went with the Salarian teams, she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them herself. But-

"Williams. Emerson. Fredericks. You'll accompany the captain's teams." She turned around to face the team behind her. "No heroics, understood?"

"Aye, aye Commander!"

The three gave various forms of salutes in turn, while she noticed Kaidan shoot a concerned glance out of the corner of her eye.

"Kaidan, I'll need you on the Normandy with the bomb. You're the only other one with extensive EOD training. No one else would be familiar with how to arm the weapon."

The man only gave her a curt nod in affirmation.

"Then I will have the ordnance loaded onto the Normandy and brief your crew on its detonation sequencing. Do you have any questions before we go Commander?"

She trained her eyes back on the Salarian.

"Shadow seems clear enough. What will the other teams be called?"

"Aegohr, Mannovai, and Jaeto. They were the initial settlements on our first three colony worlds. They are at the heart of Salarian territory to this day. These names will remind my men what they are fighting for. They must have a personal stake in the fight if we are to have any chance of success."

"What about evac? The Normandy's picking us up. How will your teams escape the blast without your ship operational?"

"Shield's own craft will take that role. It was hit by flak upon first touching down as well, but is still operational."

"If that's the case, why didn't you just use his ship's drive core for the bomb instead?"

What if-

"We were not familiar with the vessel's technology. And the equipment aboard it is quite valuable. As well as its...cargo. Shield was generous enough to offer the contents of the ship to us upon succeeding. But we will engage the geth as long as possible. Once the bomb is in place, then we will fall back. If we all move quickly, we should be able to escape with acceptable casualties. If not, then our memories will live on as martyrs to a greater cause."

"You talk like this is a suicide mission."

"I won't lie to you Commander. There is a chance none of us will survive this assault. Even _your _team. But we do what is necessary."

"I can promise you that my team will be making it out of this Captain. You best make sure the same goes for my marines."

"I will do my best Commander."

"...then let's do this."

"Excellent. Then if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare my men."

The STG agent gave a curt nod before leaving the conversation. And the Commander's attention now returned to the team behind her.

"Well, this is it. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone you guys," Ashley took the opportunity to say first to the privates. "The same goes for you Commander."

"We'll be fine, you'll see," Kaidan assured her, crossing his arms.

"And so will we," Hector laughed, hitting Ashley's shoulder.

"Be sure to get the medals ready for when we get back," Clark chimed in, speaking to no one in particular.

"Yeah, you're all right, I just...good luck."

The woman's eyes looked unsure. Of everything. And they reflected Shepard's own feelings at the moment.

"Is there something you want to say Chief?"

"I don't know. It's just...weird. Going under someone else's command. I've got used to working with you...all of you." The woman glanced at the bizarre assortment of Alliance marines and alien rogues beside her.

"Jeez, stop with that shit. You're making this sound like a sentencing." Hector immediately cuffed Clark as the words left his mouth.

"I feel the same Williams. It's been a pleasure fighting by your side. All your sides." The Chief simply gave a thankful nod to Vakarian in turn.

"It truly has been an... enlightening experience," Liara shared next.

"Don't you worry, we'll see you all on the other side," Shepard commented next, before everyone decided to suddenly start gushing their feelings and last regrets right here and now.

"I know. I, a-...it's been an honor serving with you Commander."

"Alright, everyone back to the ship! I want you all to make any last-minute changes you need for the operation, and your equipment in peak condition when we get back. There's no turning back after this! Move out!"

"YES SIR!"

* * *

**MEANWHILE.**

The sound of a shotgun blast ringing through the air told me the guy was probably a bit on edge. So on edge, the behemoth before me might even be willing to kill Shepard. Probably could do so to half the people currently here since he was two tons of pure muscle and could toss around twice that weight with his biotic talent. I would have to be pretty tactful in my approach-

"Tyrannosaurus Wrex! Hey! How's it going!"

The Krogan paid me no mind, continuing his absent-minded shooting at the water. "I'm not interested in whatever you have to say Shield. I've had enough of your annoying voice. Leave."

"Well that's harsh." Against better judgement, I did the opposite of what he suggested, ending up beside him, giving him a tender pat on the hump. "Look, it's gonna be alright man-"

My arm was immediately knocked aside as his gun was thrust into my chest. "If you don't walk away right now, you might not at all."

"Woah. Woah now. Chex yourself before you Wrex yourself."

"What."

"We're all friends here aren't we Wrex? I just wanted to talk."

He scoffed and leaned in as close as his snout would allow, nostrils flinging moisture onto my face, bloody red eyes fixed inches from my own, gravelly voice so rough it almost came out as a snarl. "We're past talk Shield. If you hadn't noticed, my 'friends' want to destroy the one chance that my people have of surviving. That they don't care what it even means for the Krogan people. Saren on the other hand was the one who made it and is freely offering it to those who'd join him. That's what that idiot Tanok had meant that day on Therum. And why those others were following his orders on Feros. Because he can actually _save_ our people. So you tell me Shield. Who's really on my side here? The lines between 'friend' and foe are getting a little blurry from where I stand."

"...do you not consider me a friend?"

"Why would I?"

"Oh...then I guess you're right." Sniff. I'll have to address that later. "...sure. Your _friends_ want to destroy the cure Saren made, true. But that doesn't mean you should side with that douchebag either."

"Then what do you suggest I do Shield? Because I'm dangerously close to just walking into that facility and telling Saren what you all are doing out here at his front door step."

I looked around real cautiously before giving him what he wanted to hear. Because oh was the reaction I was going to get from it be sweet.

"Well unlike your _friends _Wrex...I say otherwise."

The Krogan stared at me for a good long while. Then he let out a snort. "Varrenshit."

"Saren would just turn your people into his personal servants like the Council did during the Rachni War Wrex. You'd just be tools he'd use until he no longer had a need for you. Thrown away like you all were after the Rebellions-"

"So you'd just have me stand by while you all destroy the salvation of my people?!"

"They're only doing it because they're scared of said Rebellions happening again Wrex! But if the cure was in the hands of a sensible Krogan leader...one who could reform the Krogan people instead...maybe the galaxy wouldn't need to fear Krogan warmongering after all?"

"What exactly are you saying Shield."

"I'm saying you should take the cure for yourself Wrex. Save your people. And I'm even generous enough to offer my help."

The Krogan looked at me quizzically before backing off.

"...and what do you have to gain from this?"

"Nothing at all."

Probably not the best answer as he stared me down.

"And, because, brogans before hoegans. Duh?"

I quickly cleared my throat as it became obvious that the words didn't quite have the effect I intended either.

"...because what happened to your people was wrong Wrex. I want to change that. The Krogan deserve a second chance. Society shouldn't be punished for the actions of an individual(s). Individuals who passed centuries ago. You don't have to believe me but...I can honestly say I want you to get that cure." I extended my hand out toward the eight-foot-tall monster currently towering over me. "What do you say?"

After eyeing it for a good amount of time...

He firmly grasped it in his claw.

"If you're lying Shield, I'll kill you where you stand."

"Fair enough."

A streak of lightning shot across the darkening sky behind him, with a roar of thunder sounding across the beach soon after. The storm that had approaching throughout the entire day seemed to have finally arrived. But not even that would stop me now. And though I tried not to, I couldn't help but grin now that the moves were finally being made.

"Let's do this."

The Krogan grinned. "I'm ready to tear this place a new one."

* * *

**Some Sensible Amount of Time Later.**

"So how exactly _did_ you find out where we were headed Shield?"

"A gentleman never comes across state secrets and tells Garrus haha. Ha."

Though my appearance had surely been a shock on the beach...everyone seemed to be at least somewhat accepting of my presence in the garage as I had followed them onto the Normandy. To get something I had forgotten when I had left of course. Now, some people might try to convince you I was kicked off, but you know, the break was entirely mutual. The visit was surely not to take one last walk around the garage and absorb in all the sights the Normandy had to offer before Shepard got rid of me again or anything-

"Mhm."

"There's a good reason for why I did it, okay?"

"...despite what happened in the end on Noveria, Shield...I believed you had good intentions in why you did what you did. I admit...sometimes I look back and wonder if what happened on that planet in the end was the right decision to make."

I looked at the Turian talking into his locker beside me.

"...thanks, Garrus. I really do appreciate it."

"Consigning an entire race to death...I mean that reason, genocide, was one of the reasons we fought the Krogan-"

"You want to learn about genocide Vakarian?" Wrex suddenly muttered behind me. "I'll take you to a Krogan obstetrician's office." And then...the Krogan chuckled. "But why don't you give it a couple years. Who knows. Soon, you might not even find anything out of the ordinary." After turning just in time to see him grin at me, the Krogan finished the installation of the mod in his gun before trotting off.

Could you be ANY less subtle Wrex? At all? Have some tact. My God.

I turned back toward Garrus who was currently watching him walk off.

"...I still can't believe you were actually able to calm Wrex down."

"Oh yeah. Yeah! He's a smart guy. He saw what the right choice was to take in the end."

"Still, I think we should all keep an eye on him. No telling what he'll do when we reach the breeding grounds."

"Don't worry. I got it Garrus. You need to trust in him. Didn't you say once that's what it takes to be a team? Trust? He's had your back this long hasn't he?"

"Hmph...no, you're right Shield. I suppose that's just my Turian bias getting in the way. Wrex _has_ been with us. Every step of the way."

I opened the locker once Vakarian reached his epiphany, taking my first look inside for a long while. While the experimental Janissary armor set from Hahne-Kedar's Shadow Works was currently adorning Ashley, I decided in my magnanimity to let her keep it. God knows she and Kaidan would need all the help they could get. Though with what I had set in place, neither should need it. Because both were making it out alive. I could promise you that.

Anyway, that had been the only thing removed. Apparently, my locker was now being used as a spare storage space, having about a dozen things added to it instead. Still, at the bottom of it, below all the racked weapons, was the scuffed lancer Ashley had handed me before Noveria, as well as that trusty hardsuit I had stored inside all that time ago after Luna.

I knew keeping it had been the right decision. I quickly removed both from the locker before beginning to suit up.

"So, what you've all been up to since Noveria?" I asked to break the silence and get myself caught up, stepping into the armor's greaves and lifting them up to my torso, nestling my boots into the armor's own snugly.

"Since Noveria? Ooh, quite a bit." The Turian cocked his sniper rifle and peered down the new scope attached to it. He then frowned, and began removing it immediately. "I'm sure Shepard wouldn't like me sharing _but_...if you're willing to share what's happened to yourself since then..."

I pulled the rest of the suit's chest piece over my head next, being sure to slide my arms into the bracers as I did. "Alright, fine, deal." Like I was even intending to keep all that a secret. His probing comments were about as discrete as Wrex's.

"Though then again, I'm sure you'll learn it all regardless-"

"And who says I haven't already?" My smarm lost its impact the moment I had to begin wiggling, as my armor had gotten caught halfway down my shirt. "...why don't you just give me your best stories anyway, and I'll try to act impressed."

"Give and take Shield. You first."

"Okay. No skin off my back. Ladies first, I gotcha. Let's see...after _I_ left...I had been taking a walk when I came across some punks messing with a kid in the Lower Wards. Ended up teaching them a lesson they wouldn't soon forget."

"Hm, nice work. Someone has to clean those streets now that I'm off them. And on _our_ side...there was this one time we found a hive of Rachni on Nepmos and Altahe that had all but destroyed the Alliance outposts stationed there. They weren't from Noveria however. Apparently came on supply ships from a depot operated by this little group named _Cerberus_. We ended up plummeting the whole thing into the sun."

"Damn." I forgot about that mission. "...so what about Feros? Did you-"

"I believe it's your turn Shield." The Turian had already reinstalled his previous scope and was now switching out guns.

I began snapping the latches underneath the breastplate to my suit now. "Okay, okay. I think next...I next decided to infiltrate an alien commune in Manash. Place called the Altakiril Abode. Some real sketchy stuff going on there. I could tell as soon as I walked in. The place stunk to high heaven." Only literally of course.

"I think I've heard that name from some of the guys on the beat down there. Real tough place for Humans supposedly."

"Your turn again."

"Fair enough. Like you mentioned...we visited Feros next. _After_ Shepard dealt with a former CO of hers that had created a commune of biotic extremists. Extremists that killed two Alliance officers that had come to negotiate in piece. That was messy."

I knew this one. "Major Kyle right?"

"...lucky guess."

After waiting a moment, I realized I wasn't getting anything else. "Alright, I got the drill." I splayed my hand while pulling back on my wrist now, making the armor's gauntlet as snug as it could be. "Shortly after I arrived at the commune, I got pissed off by a local crime syndicate and decided to pay them back by kicking all their asses. A group called the 10th Street Reds. Maybe you've heard of them."

"I think may have actually...wait. You said this was in Manash? I came across a report in the news recently about race riots happening there. That-"

"Nope." I attached my omni-tool back over my right hand.

"...I'll take your word for it. As I was saying, we did eventually head to Feros. Nasty business. The corporation funding the colony there purposefully allowed its people to become infected by the spores of a fifty thousand year old sentient plant, making them all its thralls. Oh, and the Geth were also there. So that was fun."

"Mmm, yeah. So...did you guys end up saving any of the colonists from the Thorian in the end? What about Shiala? Did-"

"Am I just wasting my breath here?"

I sighed. "No, no, I like your narration of events better. Sorry. Continue."

"...they're all fine. We were given special equipment to render the enthralled colonists unconscious. Shepard made sure. Not a single casualty. Aside from the Thorian and the Asari you mentioned."

Oh. I always liked her. Damn.

My omni-tool lit up now that it registered my pieces of armor were connected, displaying a message on my arm.

_This hardsuit's VI 'AL's Protocol Suite 4.1C' has detected an operating system. It wishes to-_

I entered 'approve' before taking my turn again. "Well _I_ ended up kidnapping an Alliance general."

Garrus paused his fiddling, looking at me with a grave expression.

"-and I let him go without incident when my investigation turned up he wasn't a terrorist. Chill." My outstretched arm automatically stiffened once I had approved the message, as my suit became hermetically sealed by its own microcomputers.

The Turian shook his head as he resumed what he was doing. "We landed on a planet in the Vostok system due to some intel we found on Feros afterwards. They had shipped some of the Thorian's, what we called, 'creepers', to it...Cerberus actually had some 'creepers' on Binthu now that I think about it but...sorry. A mystery for another day I suppose. Once the science team there learned we already knew about the Thorian, they tried to bribe Shepard to let them go."

"Ooh. Bad call."

"As was training all their guns on us after Shepard declined. They were dead before they hit the ground."

"Classic Shepard... let's see. After my meeting with the general...I was kidnapped by the Shadow Broker. Cool stuff. Learned a lot."

That caused him to stop what he was doing again.

"What?"

"Sent a hit squad for me. Ended up waking up tied down to a chair. Brutally interrogated. Lost a finger. A mechanical one mind you but...still. Not a pleasant experience."

"Tall tales are one thing Shield. Lying entirely is another-"

"I don't lie Garrus. Heh. Not anymore. At least not to you. You can ask Agent 'Gellix' and his pilot Rok yourself if you don't believe me. They're still in the ship I'm gifting to the Salarians. I don't think it's left yet actually. Maybe you can still catch it."

"...you're serious?"

"Yuuuup. Busted free when I got finally bored of it all and then beat that Turian like he owed me money. Then zip, bang, boom, here I was on Virmire. Which I learned of from information they already had on their ship's computers. For you see Garrus, let me hit you with another little truth bomb...there's a traitor aboard this ship feeding the Broker news about your whereabouts since it first left dock. It's how they found out about me, and how the Broker contacted Shepard immediately after Nepheron."

"...Are you sure about that Shield? That's a serious accusation. Who is it? How do you know?"

"Garrus, I'm as sure of that fact as I am sure that I'm most certainly not living out a fantasy as a robot with 21st century memories within a deceased human's body currently being creatively imagined up by a kid in a coma."

"What-"

"HEAVE!"

We both turned toward the large contraption currently being 'heaved' into the Normandy's garage by Felawa and Tanaka, and escorted by Kaidan, Captain Kirrahe, and several other Salarian ordinance experts.

"Remember, it all comes down to you lieutenant. Be sure you're ready to arm it when the time comes."

The two members of security plunked the make-shift nuke onto the ground a rather little too harshly.

"Don't worry Kirrahe. I have it under control. You can count on me."

The Salarian gave Kaidan a curt nod, and the same to me upon looking in my direction, before leaving with his entourage in-tow.

Everything was finally in place. This was it.

I quickly picked up the rest of my stuff, slinging the lancer onto my back, attaching my pistol to my magnetic holster, and sliding the knife Gellix let me borrow into a ceramic sheath I had fabricated with my tool, looking up the process online, and which was now currently attached to my belt. Garrus finished his calibrations beside me.

"Garrus, I'm going to tell Shepard all this after the mission. Alright? But until then, think you can keep it quiet? I don't want to let the guy know that we know...you know?"

"...I understand." He cocked the rifle and slung it across his back too. "Think I can be there when you finally do however?"

I clasped my hand with the Turian's own in response.

"Deal."

And as he firmly grasped it in turn-

"This is your Commander speaking." The ears of everyone still present in the garage immediately perked as Shepard's voice cascaded over us. "Allow me to give you all one final rundown of the plan again. The Normandy's ground team will be team 'Shadow'. The three STG teams, along with Private Emerson, Private Fredericks-"

"PRIVATE FIRST CLASS!"

"-and Gunnery Chief Williams will create a distraction while our Shadow Team infiltrates the base. You can be sure. We _will_ make our way to the breeding grounds at the heart of the facility. We _will_ disable the AA guns so that we can land the Normandy to deliver the nuke. And once done, we _will_ get the hell out of dodge before it detonates and blows Saren and his Geth straight to hell. Whatever happens, I want everyone to just keep shooting. We go in hard, we hit 'em harder, and we'll be the only damn thing that comes out the other side at the end of this fucking day!"

"OOH RAH!"

"Commander Shepard out."

The marines and crewmen around us whooped and hollered fanatically as Shepard's speech came to its climax, masking the sound of the raindrops now beginning to fall outside the open garage. Another thunderbolt let everyone present know for sure the storm was finally here. But all that really mattered was that they were ready. We were ready. This was it. The final countdown-

**(**Continue Playtrack 17...Music by Europe. The Final Countdown. (C) 1986 Epic Records.**)**

_FINAL-_

_Song off._

-was here.

I'd finish what I started.

And I would also be sure to learn how to finally stop my 'tool from doing that. God did I hate that.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**MSV Erros' Virmire Splashdown**

Third Infiltration Unit STG patrols their camp. Commander Rentola reports a vessel coming in hot on the horizon. Captain Kirrahe orders Sergeants Molan and Beerj to immediately line up their shoulder-launched artillery upon aircraft. Rentola clarifies Geth AA are firing upon it. Kirrahe tells unit to scatter as ship banks wide over the beachhead and comes back around, skidding across the water until coming to a halt along the beach.

Leonov aliased as 'Marauder Shield' emerges from the vessel sometime after, greeting STG unit, identifying himself as an undercover advance scout of the Alliance fleet inbound on their position. Members express relief their message was received. Shield then briefs STG members about his hired ship crew's attempted 'mutiny', and that the Shadow Broker attempted to sabotage his mission. Upon showing Kirrahe and Lieutenant Marlus the imprisoned Agent Gellix and Rok, Shield debunks their claims of insanity and being a rogue agent upon display of the ship's server room, containing encrypted data on the Shadow Broker's network. Kirrahe inquires how he came across this ship. Shield replies that he charters different ships for missions that could not be connected back to the Alliance ala the Corsair Program.

Shield is then briefed by Kirrahe on their current status. Shield asserts that waiting for the Alliance is a waste of time, and suggests they be proactive and come up with a contingency plan for destroying the base in case reinforcements do not arrive. The argument is won once they consider the Alliance Fleet may be simply prevented from coming due to the appearance of an opposing Geth Fleet. STG team exchanges ideas when Shield asks about the state of the Salarian vessel. Upon hearing its condition, he suggests that its drive core could be repurposed as a bomb to take out the facility. Kirrahe responds that the idea was 'impossible', 'improbable', 'out of the box', and was 'insanely brilliant'. Rentola displays rough approximation of Saren's fortifications in conjunction. Shield asks if Breeding Grounds would be adequate place for bomb to be placed. Marlus agrees that would be a deft decision with existence of the geothermal taps there.

Rentola asks how the bomb would be planted on foot. Shield responds the Alliance has a frigate that can bypass Geth AA without detection, and can shuttle in the bomb if other AA guns inside were disabled. STG voices surprise and admiration of Alliance ingenuity. Rentola asks the feasibility of the ship actually touching down and if that could be a given. Shield asks if there is a passage less guarded than the others in response. Rentola identifies a gulch eight clicks west of the drone fueling depot they had recently come across. Kirrahe acknowledges a small team can slip in the back way with the bomb if the ship is unable to land. Marlus says a team would need to use it regardless to disable the AA guns if the ship _does_ land.

Marlus additionally suggests a diversionary team would be needed to draw fire away from the vulnerable team. Shield suggests the STG unit be divided into three strike teams that can hit several gates of the facility from the side opposite. Kirrahe opines it better to have them launch a complete frontal assault, followed with the three previously suggested teams diverging from there. Others conclude that is 'the best we can do with the information available'. Kirrahe then wages that the mission has a low chance of success, but agrees with Shield that some is better than none. Shield then begins to brief the STG unit further on the SSV Normandy's capabilities when Operative 'Everalert' ended recording.

**Operative Hoc waiting on stand by. At your word Broker.**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Yes. Four chapters in one week. I am a god. You may gape in awe at my innate talent.

Though let's be real here, this was mostly just due the advent of the 51st SUPERBOWL of '17 BABY and getting this out so I can make you sit down and read my projections for the game tomorrow suckers. Prediction. Pats win the toss by using double-sided coin. They get ball first. Prediction. They start off with a wild offensive drive that utterly stuns Richard Smith, the idiot, causing them to lead 7-0. In outrage at how the game is going half-way thru, Ryan will lose his cool and throw the first interception of the Falcon's post-season leading to a 10-14 deficit come half-time. Lady Gaga is amazing. Period. The new Doritos commercial roxxors boxxors. Never mind that they announced they won't have one. We come back from the bathroom in time for the start of the 3rd quarter. Dan Quinn's locker room speech spurs Freeman to finally run straight up the middle for a 17 yard gain putting the Falcons into the Red Zone. Hulio Jones finally stops messing around and catches the first touchdown of the quarter as McCourty weeps at his own ineptitude, helplessly watching on as Hulio continues to ask out his mother on live television. She says yes. Fourth quarter arrives. Falcons march down the field again and score. Big woop. Tom Brady uses his gifts from god to just go right back down. Out of options, Hulio Jones just takes the ball from Matt Ryan and saunters down the field 54 yards for a touchdown. Everyone stands still, allowing him to do so, knowing it would be pointless to try anything else. Patriots get the ball, but their fighting spirit has been drained due to the heat. Falcons' turn. But wait, halfway thru, Jamie Collins shuts down the drive with a sack causing a loss of 15 yards. With three seconds left on the clock, Quinn goes for the outrageous decision of having the Falcons kick a 54'er thru the field goal for the miraculous win of the game, final score 24-21. Bill Belichick stuffs his arms into his hoodie as the Falcons run onto the field. Tom Brady cries. Matt Ryan is voted MVP and does a mighty Falcon screech. Scene.

Guess y'all see how prescient I am after tomorrow. Don't be afraid however, as I promise to only use my powers for good. OH and INB4 'WHAT?! Shield back wtih g0 Shephard?! I haTe Shep3rd! Raggle Fraggle!1' Now, everyone's heard the story a thousand times. It gets stale. And Shield is almost as obsessed with Shepard as Liara, true. But why? Who knows. Oh wait. I do. It's to trick you all into reading a complete novelization of the first game transcribed on Fanfiction word for word all over again. And you've already read it 3/4 through. Hahah you FOOLS! Thought you were reading an original story?! Think again!

**Okay time for Reviews!**

TUA - You know it. High School Musical changed my life. And I just wanted to share it with the world so it could hopefully do for someone what it's already done for me. GO WILDCATS!1!

ReviledPembrake - Buzz buzz player.

Ma Esde - Mahatma Gandhi once said 'There is sufficiency in the world for a man's need, but not for man's greed'. But what the heck does he know?! E'er one who wants a new chapter say EYYYYY!

Mekutan - And interdimensionally downloaded personality man?! You couldn't be more wrong! He's a real boy! He's real I tell you! And you would kill your poor, defenseless, innocent meal tickets? How could you! How else would you be able to brutally interrogate them or give them as gifts to build ties with the STG!

PW - And haha, no. You're supposed to give the masses what they want! More Bladewolf! But since that's not out, I guess they'll just have to settle for Shield instead. And you'd rate this F for Family? No bro, it's supposed to be F for Frivolous plot points. Get it straight.

My little brony - To be honest, I thought it blatantly clear by this point that NO, Shield is a GOD-awful liar. And big ego? That's kinda iffy. He has been kind of depressing lately in the last few chapters, what with all the EVERYONE's dead because of ME shtick. But I'll give you that he never takes anything really serious and that's a problem. It's one of his very few (VERY FEW) personality flaws though so if he can ever overcome it...I guess we'll see. I hope this will all be perfectly clear by the end of the story though. I'm sorry if I failed to impart sufficient insight into how I see Shield's character. But oh boy, will this chapter definitely upset you. I can only say...if he did kidnap Ashley or Kaidan...wouldn't someone still have to take their places resulting in a similar scenario? And if you think Shield can overpower a Spectre-worthy marine or a Biotic of any kind, you got another thing coming bub.

TheFonz - Thanks for the kinds words man, I really do like seeing them every chapter as their always refreshing to come across. I give you a gold star in positivity bro.

TiB - ...and that would have been friggin hilarious. I should have actually had that happen haha. Oh my god. Thankfully, Shield felt up their unconscious bodies when they were asleep so he's good. Though in danger of a harassment suit. The cage they're in is old-fashioned however, opened with a physical key to prevent exactly what you just described. Impervious to hacking. Poor Gellix just never thought he'd end up inside one himself. Irony I suppose. Also, you know Shield's memes are the dankest in 2183. It's just that they're a little sad since no one else recognizes but him. He's that weird guy who always says inside jokes no one gets. But I like to think that's how he keeps his sanity however.

WD(199) 40 - No. No, you know what? Yeah. Yeah this story is pretty awesome isn't it?! I am the best aren't I? The best around. And I'll be sure to never ever let you down. Enough with the shallow deprecating humor. Who needs it. Not when I got this guy. I'll give you a gold star in good taste.

Rafi - Wait a sec. WOAH. WHAT?! ONE NIGHT!? Chill! CHILL dawg. Chill! Take a deep breath. Breath in and out. I'll get you a chair. No man, woman, or child should read that many words in one sitting. Dear Lord. How does your face feel? How many fingers am I holding up!? What did you just say to your screen? NO! That's wrong! I have twelve up, god dangit. We're losing them! Oh shit, they read 250k+ words and STILL wrote a coherent and poignant review?! Someone call a doctor! THEIR DYIN HERE-

Ah I'm sure you'll be fine. Whoo, alright, haven't responded to a review this long in awhile then. Phew, alright. Alright. Here it goes.

I think-

* * *

**In the the next chapter: It's Raining! It's Pouring! Saren's gonna be sent Soaring! Attack on Saren Begins!**

**Tune in next time to Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	41. A Krogan Keen on Killing

"You what?"

She had stopped in her tracks when she heard me.

"I want to be on 'Shadow Team' Shepard. You've seen me in the field. A straight firefight isn't really my specialty. I'd only slow them down." While technically true, this was only partly the reason why I was currently dead set on accompanying them. Just phase one of the grand master plan.

She had simply cast me her patented Shepard glare across the garage in response.

"If you still don't trust me, wouldn't it be better to have me by your side? And I've looked over the Salarian's reconnaissance of the place extensively since I arrived. I know the base's layout by heart. It makes sense to have someone familiar with it leading you through. If you don't, we might not make it to the dropzone in time."

"Shield if you try anything-"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll kill me where I stand, it's my last chance, I got it alright. But this is it Shepard. We can take Saren down here...if you want to catch him...let me come with you."

"...then you'll be taking point."

Droplets of water quickly slid down my visor one after another, visibility practically nil as rain obscured the riverbed around me. Continuing my trek alone through the channel, I made sure to keep my firearm level with my eyes. I had lost Garrus and Liara just moments ago, when we had run into another Geth patrol. And I was not comfortable with splitting up like Garrus had originally suggested. Though by the time I had objected, both were already gone-

"Wha...Wrex?"

When he turned around, I realized my mistake. Wrex was not fond of helmets, Wrex's head plate was not green, and Wrex was surely still at the Fuel Depot with Tali and Shepard. No, this was not Wrex. This was just a regular Krogan. Silly me.

I immediately began to sprint for a rock formation jutting out of the water to my left before I felt a shotgun round hit my back, sending me skidding into the stream. And-

_-Adrenaline Rush-_

-worked as it had in the fights since this morning, slowing everything to a sepia still around me. I clamored to my feet as my helmet's HUD displayed my shields at less than half capacity, and after darting forward on my fours, made another dive for the rocks.

Which exploded from a carnage blast that shot right over my shoulder. Pieces of debris ricochet off me as I fell again to a thud, realizing the ability was already coming down. Though it worked...it was shorter than usual. Which I took was from repeated use.

_Adrenaline Rush._

I flipped myself over, leveling my Harp-Predator with his face and immediately fired it into the Krogan. He laughed in response, still holding his weapon in my direction, slowly letting loose his own volley as four of my own were exchanged with it. That second shotgun blast finished what the first one had started, coincidentally coinciding with my Rush ending once again. And with that second shot grouping, my shields dropped to zero and caused my body to recoil as the kinetic barrier of my armor shattered. But just my four shots had done the same to his.

I was able to blink once before a streak of light flashed before my eyes, lightning striking overhead again. Instead of killing me like I thought he would however, the Krogan was now oddly grabbing at his helmet. Eventually succeeding in wringing it off, he tossed the thing that I noticed now had a large round lodged in its eyehole aside. And I took that as my cue.

_OMNIBLADE!_

In just a few short strides, I had closed the gap and planted my blade right into the distracted Krogan's chest, causing him to gasp for air. I immediately pushed off as he recovered quicker than I thought, face twisted in rage. Within a split second, a second gunshot rung out, pounding the Krogan's chest just inches away from my own inflicted wound. With that, the alien stumbled backwards before falling onto its hump, slumped over, storm pouring over its still corpse.

And after watching it for a while to be sure, I turned around to the Turian sniper a couple dozen yards away, slowly getting up from where he had been kneeling.

"...I owe ya one Vakarian!"

"Three! But who's countinSHIELD WATCH OUT!"

I immediately pivoted, finding a corpse's claw wrapping itself around my neck. My gun was knocked from my hand as the Krogan next hoisted me two feet off the ground by the throat. Summoning my omniblade in response, the Krogan opted to grab my right arm with his remaining free claw. Steam flew off my orange weapon as rain pelted it, with the Krogan's armored glove doing the same as the blade began to melt it. But he was apparently focused on something other than his burning flesh at the moment. While shards of the Krogan's helmet were blinding his right eye, the other was clearly dead set on still crushing my windpipe.

But that was stupid because as my eyes were being squeezed from their sockets and his attention was distracted, I snaked my free left hand to the military talon and pulled it from its sheath to-

To let it subsequently fly out of my hand as I was unable to properly grip it.

Damn that missing finger. Damn the slippery rain. Damn this Krogan.

"KORBAL!"

"Gar...rus..."

As the Krogan shouted, Vakarian suddenly came on over my comm. "Don't move Shield! I'm taking the shot."

"Nu...drn...ghrkplhf-"

A bright flash blinded my eyes as something impacted the Krogan once again. His claws were immediately ripped from my throat as a harsh force pulled us apart. The ventilated air in my helmet now filling my lungs was a quite welcome change I must tell you. Next finding myself floating sideways, glowing purple, watching on in awe as the singularity below me decided to make gravity its bitch in comparison was more...eh.

Still, I didn't let it distract me. Freed, I quickly went for the lancer I remembered was still attached to my back, unfolded it, and then began contributing to the gunfire now targeting the helpless Krogan, yelling in the air upside down across from me. And not moments later, both of our bodies collapsed to the ground rather harshly. Though only one of us got up afterwards.

My suit whirred quickly as its kinetic barriers came back up in synchronization.

"Shield, are you alright?"

Still coughing, I held my hand up to Liara as she pulled me to my feet.

"...thanks...hrck...Liara."

"You are welcome. I am simply glad to have arrived when I did. I fear to imagine what would have happened had I not..."

"I just want you all to know that I had a clean shot."

"Shut up Garr-ack."

Damn my throat felt like shit.

Then Liara's eyes grew wide with the action. "Shield!"

For a second, I thought she was over-concerned about my damaged windpipe.

Then I realized she was staring at the Krogan getting back on his feet again.

"What the fu-"

A warp immediately hit the Krogan, rending his repairing shields, while I decided to resume firing my Lancer. As the alien immediately lowered his head to charge, in response to the pellets bouncing off his armor, the whole thing suddenly blew apart before my very eyes. Orange blood violently splattered across my visor, though my vision was quickly cleared by the deluge still falling atop my head.

"...I'm dead seriou-grck. I'm going back to the ship if he gets up again."

Because dear lord, that was straight bullshit. It's not even fair how OP Krogans are. How the hell did they ever lose thier war-

"Fortunately for the rest of us, unlike their hearts or lungs, Krogan only have _one_ head."

"Just glad I wasn't around for the Rebellions," I added coughing, cautiously bending over to pick up my dropped belongings as I stared at the 'corpse'. "Fucking Krogans."

"With all these defenses and men though, Saren must be hiding something big," Garrus opined as Liara and I began approaching him.

"Something of even greater importance than a cure to the Genophage?" Liara asked in disbelief.

"I know but...just call it a gut feeling, because I can't help but feel like there might be more here than meets the eye."

Damn that's some good intuition Garrus. Everyone ready to witness some twisted indoctrination experiments? I know I wasn't-

"Despite my previous comment...I do find myself agreeing with you Garrus. There _is_ something foul in the air here."

...because now that they mention it...I am feeling a bit uneasy myself. If things didn't go how-DAMMIT.

Focus!

Don't get psyched out now you idiot. You got a job to do.

Focus!

"Shepard is probably already making her way to the facility guys. Might be waiting for us. We should get going too."

"Right. Lead the way Shield."

"Air threat has not rematerialized!" We all immediately put our hands to our helmets as our comms came on with Kirrahe's voice. "We may be getting some help from Shadow!"

"Looks like Shepard was able to find that refueling station."

Garrus' voice quickly disappeared in my helmet as a bolt of lightning shot across the sky, the sound of thunder accompanying it moments later, shaking the very ground we walked.

The storm was getting worse.

* * *

"Taking the facility will not be easy, but I am sure we will succeed."

The optimism of their Prothean scientist then was only matched by Shield's.

"Oh I promise you we will T'Soni. You can take that to the bank."

"...take what to the bank?"

"Comm check. Do you read me Commander?"

Captain Kirrahe's voice had come over their radio next, clearly intelligible despite the vast amount of rain and wind coming from the typhoon above. Their visibility on the other hand was greatly hampered.

"Loud and clear."

"Good. We'll start our push. We'll try to make it to the AA guns, but it might be up to you to finish the job. And Commander, if you see any way to undermine their defenses, we could definitely use the help."

"It won't be an easy fight, but we're ready when you are Commander."

"Same for me Commander!"

Ashley and Emerson's remarks had then been followed by Kaidan's still on the ship.

"Whatever you need Commander, the Normandy will be right behind you every step of the way."

"Roger that everyone. Go in loud and get out safe. Alright, let's move!"

"These Geth won't know what them!" Fredericks had cried last as the firefight began.

Lightning illuminated the dark sky overhead as Shepard shot out her arm at the Geth, flinging it into the canyon wall with a biotic blast of energy resulting from said action. The series of events felt like they had all just happened moments ago...but in reality it must have been hours. The grueling march into Saren's facility for just 'Shadow' team alone had been hampered every step of the way.

She turned around without pause, and as her eyes went wide, immediately ignited a biotic barrier. The rocket hit her a split second later, causing the Commander to fly backwards. Recklessly using her biotics had been careless of her. And she only gnashed her teeth in response. She couldn't afford mistakes now. As the Geth reloaded its launcher and began to raise its ordinance again, she kicked back off the ground and released another biotic blast, flinging the synthetic backwards this time. Backwards into the fuel depot behind it. The entire tank exploded spectacularly as a result, a bloom of fire erupting forth before being quickly drenched by the torrent of water still coming down.

Her shields whirred again as she dived behind rubble on her right, dodging the Geth fliers coming back around to strafe her. Then the dark sky suddenly lit up red in her visor as her sensors picked up new hostile movement. She whipped around in response, flinging a warp at the thing apparently closing in behind her. The Geth Hunter was staggered by her biotics before suddenly being bulldozed by a Krogan Battlemaster not a moment later.

Wrex then finished it, blasting the Geth over the side of the platform with his shotgun.

After that, the two turned toward the Geth fliers already coming back around for another volley overhead.

Glowing violet as she turned to face them-

She found to her surprise they had come to a complete stop, and after floating still, now began to direct their fire at the last remaining fuel depot. Her eyes turned back to where she thought their Quarian was hiding having connected the dots, realizing that Tali had finally finished her attempt at hacking the drones. The fuel depot shook the platform they were on as it exploded in a spectacular fashion too.

An overload then sent one of the captured drones plummeting to the ground, with the other quickly shot down with a carnage blast.

"Looks like you've been practicing with that shotgun Nar Rayya! I hope you've been using that fast-reload trick I showed you."

The Quarian casually walked around the barrier she had been taking cover behind, deigning to respond to Wrex over their unit's radio.

"The one where I just switch guns?"

"Thatta girl. Because the only thing better than one shotgun-"

"-is two. Yes I remember. Sadly enough."

The sound of thunder suddenly shook the platform they were on again, masking the voice of Kirrahe that popped into her helmet around the same time. The dark clouds blotting out the sky, the torrent of rain coming down on them, the little amount of progress they were making...she had already resolved.

None of it would stop this mission.

"Come on you two. We still need to meet back up with the rest of Shadow. They'll be waiting for us."

"Roger," Tali replied.

"Let's just hope those Salarians can hold up until then."

* * *

"Now, normally I wouldn't think much of Salarians in a fire-fight...but these soldiers are well trained. It won't make getting through this facility any easier."

"They're only fighting hard because they're willing to die for Saren," Tali was the first to reply to Garrus. "...and I am willing to oblige them."

"Quiet you two, cut the chatter."

Lieutenant Ganto Imness. One of Kirrahe's captured men. And the control group for Saren's recently revealed studies on Indoctrination. Thankfully something being taken very seriously by the team now. Since the first time they had heard about it on Noveria anyway.

"The Captain did mention he lost some men," Liara said, crediting his words.

So, this was door that had led down to those Indoctrinated Salarians huh?

Then that would mean the elevator-

"Give them a little ground Aegohr. We don't want them to bunker-up. Draw them out."

"You heard the Captain," Ashley's distorted voice followed over the radio, accompanied by rain and gunfire. "Let's head for rally point zeta!"

"...I'm opening your cell," Shepard finally said relenting as she heard the transmission, realizing that time was wasting. "Your Captain is being exfiltrated on the opposite side of this facility. So, you're with us. But if you try _anything_, don't think I won't hesitate to shoot."

"Thank you, Commander," the Salarian commando simply responded. "A chance at all is better than none. This is more than I had ever hoped for after being captured." Ganto expertly caught the pistol Garrus tossed him. "I won't waste it."

"Team, move out!"

The seven operatives now making up one of the most culturally diverse strike forces in the Traverse left the basement, climbing back up the stairs to the main corridor. I then affirmed that the elevator up ahead was the way we needed to go. Maybe. Saren's facility wasn't exactly the same as I remembered it...but it wasn't exactly a maze either. And we didn't have time to waste speaking to more indoctrinated Salarians or on looting crates. I had to trust I remembered the correct path to take.

Anyway, as we packed in, I made sure to get Wrex's attention, holding up _one_ finger. And an almost sinister grin plastered his face in response to our pre-planned signal.

We were close now.

This was it.

* * *

"Intruders! Get the guards!"

An Asari scientist yelled out across the room as what must have been a dozen husks were suddenly released from stasis. All happening the _instant_ I had stepped foot out of the elevator of course.

Having already cleared out, a series of biotic flashes from our team flung nearly all of the zombies backwards as we non-biotics opted just to open fire. Most of the things, along with the Asari scientist, were immediately shredded by the great barrage of gunfire we unleashed upon them. With half the computers in the room going down in a blaze of glory too. And after this, the remainder of husks left moving after this initial onslaught were simply no challenge at all. Just like that, the room had been cleared in minutes. And I now truly fathomed why Bioware limited you to only two squadmates.

"Move!"

As Shepard moved to the fore, hurrying through the destroyed lab, closely followed by Garrus and Liara, covered by Ganto and Tali...

Wrex and I opted to stay back, near the rear. Because I knew this was the place that would have it. It was the Krogan lab of the Krogan scientist doing the Krogan research for god's sake. If there was a cure...it would be here. And as Wrex gave me a hard glance, I began to recite the speech in my head I'd use to convince the rest of 'Shadow' to advance without us. Because giving us-

"What is going on here? Where are the guards? Where is Saren?!"

All seven team members turned back toward the ruby-crested Krogan clad in civilian wear that had just stepped out of the elevator we had exited moments ago, two Geth standing at his side.

Wrex was the first to reply.

"...Droyas? What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

"What...runt? Is that _you_?"

This...this was it. This moment was exactly what I had wanted.

I immediately spun back around to the five others training their sights on the two Krogan behind me, thrusting my hand toward the exit.

"SHEPARD, GO! We can't waste any more time here! We'll cover you!"

In turn, Shepard stared at me harshly, probably because I just had the gall of telling her to do something. But-

"Shadow team, move!"

I blinked once before Shepard already had her back to me, motioning for the others to follow her out as they exited the lab. For we really were on a time table. People would die the longer we took. And thankfully, I wouldn't be needed to guide them as there should be only one path to take outside this room, so it's not like they'd get lost on the way to finding the last Beacon or Saren.

I had truly just been given the opportunity I wanted. And I intended for things to go off without a hitch.

But...something else required my attention before I could use it.

"You know this guy Wrex?!"

"I know him from my days back on Tuchanka. He was an old, senile member of Clan Urdnot, ignored by most," Wrex replied through a snarl.

"Is that all you have to say of me runt? Truly? I remember you as a small creature of few words but...I expected more from the whelp who owes me his life," the Krogan I only knew as Doctor Droyas replied in a smooth baritone voice.

"I don't owe you shit," Wrex snapped back. "And if you hadn't noticed, I'm no runt you old fool. I'm twice your size."

The simple NPC I once thought I knew simply scoffed in turn. "It does not matter how large you grow or where in the stars you hide Wrex. I'll always remember the runt who came squealing like a babe to me in the middle of the night." The Krogan took several steps closer to Wrex from the elevator. "So, what do I owe the pleasure for this visit runt? Did you hear of what I accomplished while wasting away your life as a mercenary in the Terminus? Hear of what I, Urdnot Droyas, ALONE accomplished for our people?!"

"Don't tell me you're responsible for this," Wrex cursed, gesturing to a half-formed Krogan in a tank to our right.

The sight of the unsightly Krogan snapped me back to why I was here. I then immediately began glancing at the array of shot up computers throughout the room, utterly annihilated by our trigger-happy team earlier.

An 'oh shit' didn't fail to escape my lips.

"_That_ is the glorious salvation of our people runt! The cure to the Genophage will-"

"Will enslave our people to Saren!" Wrex immediately roared. "You always talked about the Krogan people once being free. Free of other's influences. That the Krogan people needed to escape from the shackles that others had bound us with. Escape so that we could a_ll_ be free! And yet here you are, shackling our very people to another's idiocy again!"

THERE. One unmarred console that just so happened to be next to the creepy, half-formed Krogan body that I had just been scarred by. Great. I made sure to swipe a key card off the dead Asari near me as I quickly made my way to the computer, tapping it against what I assumed was the sensor to unlock it.

This Galaxy was about to get topsy-turvy. For twas I, Marauder Shield, that would cure-

"Idiocy?" The Krogan doctor laughed loudly, distracting me. "Saren is the one who_ freed_ us runt. His research from Binary Helix has given me the tools we need to reclaim our destiny. To take back the stars for ourselves. Once he and his Geth obliterate the Council, the Krogan will once again rule-"

"You said that the Krogan needed to move on! That focusing on the past and war was the very thing destroying our people!"

And as the console flickered on from the touch of the keycard, I soon realized my mistake.

For I still had no idea on how to fucking operate tech in the 22nd century. Without it synced to my thoughts anyways.

Hm.

I tapped what I assumed was the start menu.

I assumed wrong.

The Krogan now laughed like a mad scientist. "You are still young runt. Naïve. I admit it took me longer than most to see the truth...but you should know by now that the Krogan people only know of one thing. War."

I started tapping away wildly.

"You're an old fool."

"And you're here to betray your own people, aren't you? You would condemn your own race to extinction...simply because you do not understand your own people...your own culture! You never have, because you have always stood alone _runt_, even when you were Chief...or maybe you're just doing this because you're just a varren on a leash for that Human Spectre now."

Was this-

A series of what _looked_ like folders suddenly appeared one by one on the screen.

Hm.

I turned on my omni-tool and immediately began transferring them.

I then stopped the download when I found that my still shitty omni-tool would take about twenty minutes to do so.

"No, in the end, _I'll_ be the one saving our people you senile, old fool. And you'll be dead."

A sudden roar erupted in the room as shotgun blasts and gunfire began to be exchanged.

Deciding it would be better just to pick the cure alone, I began translating the symbols over each folder I saw, stopping to download a file every time I thought I saw something good.

"WAAARGH!"

The ground shook as something heavy sailed across the room and hit the floor. I decided to ignore it.

Now...Krogan Specimen #08%-D which was also the only bolded specimen folder I had come across so far sounded promising. But so did Droyas-Corr AA. Two A's on a report card were always good so that seemed like a good omen. As did Iallis-Rep013. Because it sounded fancy. And even Binary Helix Krogan Prelim Report X-R, which sounded like a preliminary report done by Binary Helix for the Krogan...X-R.

"You will...wait. What is- NO! Stay back! That is important work! That is the glorious SALVATION of my people!"

I couldn't say I didn't flinch as a carnage shot suddenly exploded the tank next to me, nor when chunks of the Krogan inside splatter across my visor as it did.

"You will not end the work I started!"

_BLAM._

"No, we'll just be _ending_ you."

"SHUT UP AND DIE!"

I couldn't help but flinch as a loud explosion occurred behind me.

"You first!"

_BAM._

But I'm sure Wrex could handle it.

_WHAM._

Continuing my search, I looked specifically now for keywords such as Genophage, Cure, and No More Dead Babies. Which all resulted in nadda. Nothing as overt as CURE FOR DA GENOPHAGE OVER HERE sadly enough.

_SHAZAM._

So I went on doing what I was, handpicking the documents that seemed most important.

_BLAM._

And-

I startled as I suddenly found an eight-foot hulk silently hovering over my shoulder, covered in orange.

"JESUS-"

"Did you find it yet?"

"Oh. Yeah, uh...kind of. I found some files that might-"

"Let me see them."

I decided to meekly oblige, waving my omni-tool in his direction, transferring the first ten files I had to his own. I then returned to my own search as he began going through them. I was only a third of the way through at the moment but-

I had a second before a growl had already escaped his lips.

"Shield."

"Wrex?"

"...what the hell is this?"

I was shocked at his tone of voice. And I turned to look at him, seeing the Krogan violently flicking through file after file beside me, eyes scanning the pages almost as fast as they appeared. I would voice my admiration for how impressive it was if his expression while doing all this wasn't one of complete outrage. Rage currently pointed at me.

"...uh, it's what I pulled from the computer-"

"You think you could trick me Shield?!"

"What?! Wrex, I have no-"

I blinked once before I found his claw grabbing my (still sore) throat, and a moment later, tossing me clear over a nearby desk.

"Do you think I would just accept this?!"

"Da fuq you talkin' bout Wrex?!" I could only shout back, after already having bounced off the ground and rolled to a stop.

"These files hold NOTHING!"

"What?" Behind the desk I was now pinning myself to, I immediately pulled up the designated files on my own omni-tool, flipping to-

"...what?"

"Don't think I don't know what you did!"

A chunk of the counter top suddenly vanished by my head.

"WREX! I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING-"

"Varrenshit! What have you _done_ to my people?!"

I didn't know what was happening. My mind wouldn't think straight. All I could do was plead and shout at him in turn.

"Wrex, I promise you! I'm telling the truth! I-"

"Your words aren't gonna cut it this time Shield!"

I heard a loud thunk.

"I already told you..."

I now heard something heavy land on top of the desk above me.

Looking up-

"If you lied, I'd kill you where you stand!"

_ADRENALINE RUSH! _

My legs pushed off the ground toward the Krogan already brandishing a shotgun at my noggin, close enough to bypass straight through my suit's shields.

_OMNIBLADE!_

With palpable fear pulsing through my veins, eyes completely shot, I slashed upward with all my might.

The blade slashed through Wrex's hand cannon like butter, immediately causing the gun to slowly vent steam out of its new gaping hole. And then as my rush ended, the gun blew to shreds in the Krogan's claws as he fired not a moment later.

The slash and recoil from the gun's misfire sent Wrex teetering off the desk, and I backwards. Not wasting a moment, I got back up, ignored my aching chest and booked it, vaulting behind another counter before the Krogan shot back up.

"You don't want to do this Wrex! We can keep looking!"

"HA! I know you deleted whatever was already there, Shield! I won't find anything but-"

"-the salvation...of the Krogan-" The coarse croak caught both our attentions as from around the corner of my desk, the formerly 'deceased' Droyas started to laugh loudly, coughing up more of that orange blood he was basted in. "...it's ingenious, isn't it?"

"...why can't one of you guys just stay dead for once?" I couldn't help but blurt.

"Shut up Shield! Don't try and-"

"That Human did nothing to my glorious research runt! Hahaha...ghrk. Heh. That console cannot possibly result in the loss of my work. I set too many fail safes on it to allow such a thing to occur."

"You're wrong. What was in those files was no cure to the Genophage, Droyas."

"Weren't they? A cure to the Genophage...heh. What would that even be runt? Hrk...a method to account for all the dead our mothers give birth too? A way to enable us to completely overcome the affliction? Couldn't the solution just be something as easy as allowing us to simply...ignore it?"

"No. What all the others said-"

"The others who _joined_ Saren had no idea. They just heard empty rhetoric-ghrk." The old Krogan coughed up more blood as he slowly pulled himself up. "They...did not truly understand what my research here was for. They couldn't possibly."

"So...all this time your research...you weren't even actually addressing the Genophage itself?! You were-"

The 'doctor' cut me off fanatically.

"Creating the salvation of my people?! ...Yes."

"You were creating mockeries of our people Droyas! Slaves for Saren! You...you're just creating tankbred-"

"Clones! And the first to do so in galactic history! Only _my_ research saw the first tank-bred of sentience reach adulthood without complication. Only _my_ research created a program that properly imprinted the knowledge necessary to function into their infantile vat-grown minds during gestation. I _alone_ will be the first to create a Krogan horde, the likes of which not seen since the Rebellions!"

"Why...why wouldn't you just cure the Genophage itself? Why clones-"

"There _IS_ no cure to the Genophage you wretched fool!" he immediately barked back at me. "And there never will be! The Krogan people are violent and stupid. Even_ if_ it was possible, no one would willingly do so. Did you know alien, that the Genophage was never even designed as a sterility plague? But because our people aren't even willing to do what is necessary to just survive...they will die. And the Krogan will go extinct."

"...you're wrong Droyas."

"No runt, I've seen the truth. They didn't listen to me, and they never will. My research will be the only way our people survive. And Saren is the reason why. You know I'm right. That's why you left Tuchanka in the first place was it not? Because...our people are doomed. There is no other way."

Silence filled the lab.

"...It's not too late to join me Wrex. For you're right. Saren _would_ just treat my salvation for the Krogan as a tool for his own devices. But with my continued research, and your resolve, we could-"

A slew of bullets sprayed from Wrex's gun, shutting him up. And some time passed before Saren's scientist slowly reopened his eyes again.

"...heh. Heh heh heh. Those weren't all meant for me, were they runt? It seems someone's eyes have worsened after all that time drifting through the void. You missed-"

"No. I didn't."

A violent shockwave ripped across the room, with Doctor Droyas letting out a fierce cry as his violet body was suddenly ejected from the top floor of Saren's facility, sent careening out the recently shattered window behind him.

And he'd probably still survive that.

"...I'm going to tear this place apart."

I cautiously stood up from where I was crouching as I saw Wrex turn toward the exit, having already picked up Droyas' dropped shotgun.

"...Wrex-"

"Saren's base will be nothing but dust when I'm done with it."

I gritted my teeth, tightening the grip I had on my gun as he ignored me.

...it didn't matter. The others were still waiting for us. It was time for Phase 3.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**File Excerpts from Droyas' Krogan Laboratory Server on Virmire**

Krogan Specimen 08~D - The specimen successfully reached full maturation within the tank without complication. Upon awakening, immediately underwent Iallis Revised Procedure. Post-op indicate procedure was success. 08~D classified as Battlemaster and sent to trenches for further instructions.

_First success of cloned Krogan inferred with biotic talent._

Droyas-Corr AA - *ave seen your research and I am intrigued. I will join your cause on three conditions. I will be given charge of the lab's research and direction. I will be given free reign to contact and research who and what I wish in conjunction with the project. And I%

_Urdnot Droyas' Reply to Arterius' Proposition._

Iallis-Rep013 - &amp;ooked over the surgical procedure you said. I can safely say it _is_ able to confer biotic ability, but the operation will surely have a high mortality rate. Examining the specific allelomorph the procedure would hybridize with the TNF/Fas recepto$

_Alesita Iallis is a former molecular geneticist educated at the University of Aurais and Asari commando under Benezia stationed at Peak 15 on Noveria._

Binary Helix Cure Prelim Report X-R - %as you suggested, we have indulged the proposed case and looked into a possible cure for the Krogan genophage. But over the trial period and dozens of analyses we completed, it is clear that there is simply no way that this is possible. The Genophage is incurable. But it has been enlightening in other fields of study. The amount of data we gathered for Krogan mutative strands and from our scientific adviser Okeer has opened up an entirely new possibility for us an-

_Investors from Clan Weryloc settled out of court with Binary Helix once this study showed no results for what they desired._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Did I not tell you? I said Brady would cry after the game did I not?! You may look on in astonishment. My predictions are always 100% accurate after I change them.

And did you guys know Saren's facility really _was_ just cloning Krogan? In Mass Effect 2, Cerberus mentions Saren's 'cloning facility' a couple times, as well as Shepard themselves. Even playing through the level, the pods in the Virmire trenches look eerily similar to the one we find Grunt in during ME2. So sorry Wrex and Shield, who actually thought something would come of this, but it was impossible from the beginning. Its established in-game lore! There's no going around it! So stay back you animals! No! I promise, there was never a cure to begin with! Look, I'm sorry! I, no, wait, not the belt, not the...noooo-

**Reviews:**

Arthur's Little Sister (Get it? PW?!) - Stop ruining the story, jeez. Let everyone else savor Shield selling everyone out to Saren and spending the rest of his days on Tuchanka with his loyal canine Urz. Except the twist is that Urz is actually Zael reincarnated through the Lazarus Project and can talk. All so that the Shield/Zael ship is still on! Except with furries. Varren Itch? You betcha! You can read all about their romantic misadventures in this story's sequel, Sisterhood of the Traveling Krantts. Also: Uh, WRONG. UPDATE E'ER DAY. YOLO. #420BLAZEIT.

Rainesfere - And my one regret is making Shepard so unlikable. I envisioned her as harsh, but she has come across as significantly more outrageous as the story's gone along. Oops. But one thing you don't have to worry about is Shield. Never again shall he succumb to sorrow. He'll make sure of it.

Deku~tan - Again, my bad. WOULD Shepard kill Wrex? Has she_ actually_ killed anybody who hasn't deserved it in this story yet? Maybe you guys need to be a little nicer to the Commander. She's had a rough life, ease up on her. OR YOU JUST MIGHT BE NEXT D:

The TIB - My meetings are the best. I think that goes without saying.

Fonzie - Wait no longer my good chap, for the next chapter is here.

Guest - And that's probably the best place to stop to be honest. The story's basically already over at that point.

Azzie - 'a _bit_ immature and childish'. HAHAHHAHAH oh you were serious. Ahem. Yeah, expect to see Shield man up and take charge for once in the coming chapters. It's about time for him to do some growing to be fair. But I really do appreciate the kind words, and I'm glad the dialogue seems somewhat coherent and intelligible. It's the one thing I fear most when writing this stuff. So it really is heartwarming to hear that man. You get a Gold Star in Ego-Boosting. Thanks.

* * *

**In the next chapter: SAAAARREEEENN!**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	42. The Venerated of Virmire

Google _Thunderstorm Sounds_ before you start. Or anything remotely related to the topic I suppose. The louder, the better. Ambiance goes a long way my friends. And it'll only make things this chapter that much more DRAMATIC. Because if this story has one thing going for it, it's DRAMA.

* * *

Back to your irregularly scheduled program.

* * *

From inside our cozy office, I gazed through the door at the walkway outside, watching the storm continue to hammer the thing with rain. The occasional crack of thunder accompanying the torrential onslaught. Back inside that lab with Wrex and Droyas...it had been quiet. Nice. I had already forgotten what was going on outside. Not a peep was heard save for the noise we made ourselves. And it had been a very welcome respite from the brutal weather.

But now that I was back outside...or near it anyway...it seemed that the storm had come back with a vengeance.

The walkway itself almost seemed to move with the run-off from the downpour, water endlessly cascading off its ends.

And despite the armor hugging my body, the sight chilled me to my bone.

"Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late!

"Really? Because everyone in this place so far is trying to kill me."

Though I sometimes felt like I was singled out more often than most...Shepard really was wary of making new friends. Some might even call it paranoia.

Though in this scenario, I guess I would have been particularly thankful for it.

"Do I look like a soldier? I'm a neurospecialist. And this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse."

"Well it's too late for that isn't it Thanopsis?!" The Asari scientist's eyes would pop open wide with my declaration, mouth agape. Would plead for mercy with how I'd incriminate her. But unfortunately...it was already too late for her. "Shepard, from my intel, this is Saren's lead researcher on indoctrination. She's been exposed to it as much as the others...she can't be trusted."

And then Shepard would have followed this accusation up by pressing the Asari for more information, how she was linked to Saren, what they were doing on this level, what exactly indoctrination was, then probably turn around and question me on how I even knew any of what I said in the first place. Again.

But my answer to that wouldn't matter.

Unlike I had imagined...we hadn't made it back in time for any of that to occur.

I looked over my shoulder at the Asari lying dead in the middle of what was once her office.

* * *

"You conducted brutal experiments on helpless test subjects. You helped Saren. You don't get to live."

"I just did what I was told! I didn't have a choice, I'm sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't help all your victims."

"No! No!"

* * *

Wrex and I had been entering the room just in time to hear her last words.

And they disgusted me.

I knew what would happen if we let her go.

She would just help Okeer with _his_ cloning facility, which indicates she was somewhat involved in what was going on with Droyas. And if she was even given a _second_ chance, let go _again_...she would kill several dozen Asari officials along with herself in 2186.

She was going to die regardless.

No matter what choices we made.

By our hand or her own...her death was going to happen.

Making sure it was here and now would mean however she would die alone.

However...watching her plead for her life, Shepard subsequently execute her, purple blood splattered on the ground-

I realized I never had the resolve to do such a thing in the first place. I had wanted Shepard to do it for me from the very beginning let's be real, which is why I had been planning on entirely convincing the Commander of her guilt. Because I didn't want the guilt of having to do it myself. No, I didn't have the ability to. Noveria. The Citadel. I already knew this.

I just wouldn't have been able to do it myself.

And, a philosopher once said 'the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword...and if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps that man does not deserve to die.'

...so could I really have just assumed her fate would be the same in the end? Did she even deserve to die? Even with everything that's happened? Should I really have just condemned her to death without recourse? Without even considering any of the other possible options? I mean...wasn't that the whole reason I was here? To change the fate already assigned to everyone-

I immediately bit my tongue. And it hurt like a bitch.

But the action served its purpose.

Marauder Shield doesn't second guess his actions. Marauder Shield's resolve doesn't waver. Marauder Shield just saves the day.

I nodded my head in affirmation, deciding to turn my attention instead back to Phase 4 of my Master Plan. It wouldn't be easy but-

I froze once I realized that I no longer heard the storm outside. And my suspicions were met as I turned back around to the office's entrance, finding that the torrent of rain outside had suddenly ceased to be. And I had about a second to squint before a gale force wind suddenly slammed into my face, tossing me, everyone in the room, backwards onto our asses, windows of the office shattering into a million glass shards as the sonic boom obliterated them.

_What the-_

"Commander, we got trouble."

I froze as I realized what just happened.

"Lay it on me Joker. I love bad news," the Commander's voice sounded over the radio.

_Sovereign._

"-it's moving. I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. It's coming your way, and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there. Fast!"

"We'll head for the breeding facility. Time to blow this place to hell."

"Right, Commander. I'll meet you there. Joker out."

Recovering first, I got up and offered Tali a hand, pulling her up. The Salarian, Ganto Imness, and Wrex got back to their feet across from us. And the short silence we had disappeared as the squall immediately resumed with a vengeance, lightning illuminating the room.

"That was a ship?" the former STG POW choked.

"A Krogan cruiser once fired its cannon above a village in the Kelphic Valley. The aftermath left little standing."

"I understand in atmo-firing Krogan," Ganto replied. "But was that really just due to a ship merely turning-"

"*Unintelligible Geth Growl*"

We had a second to stare at the Geth Hunter in the doorway slick with rain before it launched a carnage blast in Ganto's direction. In turn, two shotgun groupings, a barrage of assault rifle fire to the head, and a final biotic blast sent the bipedal lamp to robot hell, flipping it over the railing.

"Are you alright?!" Tali was the first to ask the Salarian sprawled on the floor.

"I'm-"

Ganto was interrupted as Shepard, Garrus, and Liara came through the other entrance and rejoined our company.

"Sovereign is an actual Reaper."

A flat "what" escaped most of their lips as she then continued.

"And we don't have much time before it gets here. We need to get to the drop zone. NOW."

The frenzied voice of Kirrahe suddenly came on over our radios next.

"Look! The Geth are turning from your position, Jaeto. Looks like Shadow kicked a sensitive spot! Aegohr, head them off! Hol-"

His voice barely audible over the gunfire and storm suddenly cut out mid-sentence. And Shepard's face contorted into a grimace before her mouth urgently opened again.

"Move!"

* * *

"Hey! We got the charges set! Heads down you frogs! Heads down-"

As Joker circled the Normandy on the outskirts of the facility, he could already see the plume of smoke now rising from Fredericks and Jaeto team's well-placed detonation.

"Ah ha ha, alright!" escaped his lips as lightning further illuminated the massive breach in the facility's tower. "Nice work! That's one less thing to worry about." He hit several flips before signaling for Rosie to vent the heat sinks. "Commander, I'm bringing us in. I'll get as close to the site as I can. MSV Erros, you're clear to pick up your guys."

In response to punching the engines, the Normandy gave a jerk as it suddenly abandoned its stealth course and dove in for the coordinates coming from Shepard's suit. Things here were as good as done. Everyone completed their objectives, ships were inbound, and mission was accomplished! All they needed to do was go back home and receive their medals.

Or so he had thought.

He wanted to blame the next thing on the storm but...in reality...it was really all Gladstone's fault. Should have seen the signature on the scans earlier.

"Incoming!"

Joker barely had time to veer under the flak as one of the AA towers started firing upon them during their descent. He cut the throttle just in time as the Normandy collided off the walls of the Breeding Grounds and came to a rather abrupt stop over Shepard's ground team, a stop that surely created a gust of wind that blew them all on their asses.

"What was that?!" he immediately heard Shepard shout.

"Hey, you almost detonated this thing Joker! What the hell?!" Chief Adams voice then came from the garage.

"Sorry, looks like we came in a little early. We didn't realize the other AA was still online," he could only reply to them both sheepishly.

"Dammit!"

"Joker," Harry spoke up beside Gladstone now. "...the Erros reports it was hit on its descent. It had to pull off before it was downed."

The hair on his neck stood on end.

"...will it still be able to leave atmo?"

"I don't know. They cut off before I could ask. I'll try hailing them again."

Some time passed on the bridge before the voice of Officer Fantum in the garage came over the comms next.

"Bombguard has just safely escorted the package out of the garage. I repeat, Eagle has left the nest."

From the bridge's window, Joker tensely looked on as said 'bombguard' placed the nuke smack dab in front of the trench's sewage drain. Tanaka wiped his brow, Felawa readied his rifle, and Kaidan immediately went to work. Without even asking, Gladstone then decided to remind Joker that the 2-kilometer-long dreadnought and genocidal robot Sovereign was still inbound, closing in.

Things weren't looking too good at this point.

"Bomb is in position! We're all set here-"

"Hey Commander, can you read me?!"

Fredericks' voice suddenly came on over the team's common channel again, accompanied by heavy rain-no, gunfire.

"The nuke is almost ready. Get to your rendezvous point!" the Commander immediately yelled back at the marine over it.

"Not an option, Commander! The Geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We weren't able to demo the thing without team Aegohr-"

"What? What happened to Williams?!"

"We don't know! But we've taken heavy casualties without team Mannovai too. I don't think getting out is an option anymore."

...when did they lose contact with both?!

Joker tried to rack his brain in an attempt to remember but..._both_ other teams were MIA?

Wasn't Mannovai the Salarian Captain's team? And Emerson had been on it with him too-

"Where's their evac Joker?! Get them out of there, now!"

"We saw our ride go down trying to pick us up Commander!" Fredericks responded for him. "And I don't think they're coming back! We'll hold them off as long as we-"

Fredericks' voice cut out over the radio.

"Uh, Joker-" someone on the bridge had already begun.

"It's okay Commander! I need a couple of minutes to finish arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here," Kaidan's static-y voice suddenly cut them off.

"What?" Joker hissed annoyed as Gladstone continued murmuring his name.

"Tanaka, Felawa, Shield, you keep that nuke safe!" Shepard shouted back into the radio. "The rest of you, up to the AA tower, move!"

"There's three Geth dropships inbound."

"Dangit!" Joker immediately reopened the Normandy's line, shaking off his deer frozen in the headlights routing, while simultaneously pulling the ship out of the trench. "Shepard! The Geth have more ships on the way! We got to get out of here. We'll try to pick some off but with that tower up-"

"Just do it!"

"Shit," Joker hissed as the ship rolled back out of the landing site.

"One ship is headed straight for us!" Gladstone spoke again, as the AA tower lit up their ascent.

"Shit!"

The ship's shield immediately tanked as ordinance directly blasted its belly.

"Joker! Get us _out_ of here!" Pressly loudly shouted from the CiC.

He jostled the yoke, cutting the Normandy around and without hesitation, zoomed out towards the mountainous terrain nearby, barely dodging the next AA barrage exploding over the ship and the Geth frigate still in hot pursuit.

"SHIT!"

* * *

Aegohr and Mannovai were AWOL. My commandeered vessel downed because Jaeto alone hadn't been able to take down their respective AA tower. The Normandy under enemy fire. Shepard about to be forced to make a choice I had never wanted her to have in the first place.

What had just happened?

"Heads up Alenko! I think we just spotted a ship headed for you!"

A round ricochet off the corner of the stone slab I was behind, just inches away from my helmet. Gritting my teeth, I leaned out from the pillar and returned fire. The Geth's heads really made it easier to spot them then it should be in the dark downpour. One of the flashlights suddenly went dark beyond me as it was hit. But at this point...it seemed almost pointless as another immediately replaced it, leaping out of the Geth frigate stationed in the dark clouds somewhere overhead.

"It's already here. There's Geth pouring out all over the bomb site," Kaidan shouted over the comm back at Fredericks, the LT still somewhere near the bomb. I didn't know where Tanaka or Felawa had taken cover when it had arrived but I could still hear them firing...still alive.

"Can you hold them off?!" Shepard yelled back.

"There's too many. I don't think we can survive until you get here-"

My brow furrowed as I heard his reply. "Don't listen to him Shepard! We can hold out!" My head snapped back as a larger chunk of the pillar I was behind suddenly disappeared. "Get to the AA tower, shut it down, and both teams can still evac-"

"I'm activating the bomb."

"What the hell are you doing Alenko?!" we both shouted at him in unison.

"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what..." A pause of disbelief passed over the conversation before Alenko suddenly came back on. "It's done Commander. Go get Fredericks and Jaeto. Then get the hell out of here. Tanaka, Felawa, Shield, go. I have it from-"

"We're not abandoning you LT!" Felawa yelled over the rain.

"Yeah, fuck you Alenko!" Fredericks shouted at the same time. "WE can handle ourselves. Go back and cover the LT, Commander!"

"No, fuck you both!" I blurted over the radio. "Take down that TOWER Shepard and-"

"Oh shit it's SAREN! I see him Commander! He's here-"

...and just like that.

His report had sealed our fates.

Shepard had one mission over these past few months.

And she was intent on completing it.

No matter the cost.

_Stop Saren._

"Radio Joker and tell him to meet us there."

"SHEPARD-"

But she had already cut me out.

"Yes Commander. I-"

"You know it's the right choice! I'll meet you there!"

Rage gripped my mind and I hurled my lancer at the wall, the weapon loudly cracking against it.

_What happened? Are you really going to-_

I drew my handgun and spun around the pillar, firing blindly at the Geth still marching toward us. I wouldn't let it get to me. I had to hope everything would work out. That this wouldn't be the end. My gun popped its heat sink before I was done, but I reluctantly fell back behind cover as my shields were ripped apart, a round not failing to hit me dead-center.

"Stay alive! After we're done with Saren, I'll be coming back to get you too!"

I ran a hand over my chest, feeling the shard still stuck in the ceramic plate.

"Tell Emerson and Williams to move their asses if you see 'em!"

"Damn it! Suppressive fire!"

The cries of Tanaka brought my attention back to our own team.

"Watch your flank Rob! Cover your-ARGh!"

I wheeled out in panic to my left, where a flashlight significantly taller than the rest was standing still, apparently hovering over something.

I open fired before it was suddenly wrenched up by a violet field.

"I got him!"

I wasted no time in sprinting through the water up to my ankles, rain and rounds pelting my armor harmlessly as I bolted for the downed marine, fighting through the throbbing pain in my abdomen. I slid the last leg of it, right as my shields sputtered out, saddling up to the marine now clutching his shoulder. I immediately took a medigel stim off his belt and stabbed him with it, the man too weak to even do it himself. He and Felawa had seen less action over the course of this mission then me, so it didn't exactly surprise me. They had just been glorified security guards up to this point.

I then forced my head and Tanaka's down toward the ground as a rocket launched at where we had just been, sending charred pieces of metal from the crate scattering everywhere upon detonating. I tried to look around from where it had come from but-

"Shield, fall back!"

But I refused. I would die if I did. I didn't know where he had gone or where the other Geth remained.

I would be picked off as soon as I left cover.

I don't know how I even got to where I was now without dying, my mind was completely-

I picked up Tanaka and threw him into the corner of the wall, and I sandwiched myself in after him as another carnage shot created a wall of water from where it had just impacted. I fired back at where I thought the Geth was, but again...the battlefield was covered by darkness, an impenetrable field of rain and mist hiding the enemy from us. The storm itself was so dark it blotted out the sky. And the maelstrom's occasional bout of thunder and rain masked the actions of whatever could be happening around us, auditory and visually.

"I'm moving back LT! Cover me!"

The voice of Felawa snapped to my attention. My eyes were able to pick out Rob's faint figure, due to him moving against the grain of the rain and the shadows at breakneck speed, before it suddenly hit the ground as another Geth volley of fire was launched upon it-

And as I thought we had just lost someone else, the volley was suddenly interrupted by another. I flicked my head back behind me in time to see what I took to be 'Shadow' Team exiting the breeding grounds, launching an entirely new offensive of their own. A 'shadow' simply knelt in the middle of it, immediately loosing what I assumed were several well-placed rounds into the storm. Two more figures strafed the Geth alleyway with the sounds of shotguns, guarding another behind them glowing faintly violet, an individual now throwing a biotic barrier over the marine who had just hit the ground. The two who were first out the gate simply deigned to add to Kaidan's suppressive fire still coming from the nuke, with the rest now establishing their beach head inside the trench.

And it was clear at this point that Shepard's decision had been made.

Then a bright flash appeared in the sky again, blinding me. But unlike the strikes of lightning before...this one wasn't natural. It was made by something other than the storm. A purple nova had suddenly been sent out like a flare. It shot up into the sky, illuminating the dark trench, before another was suddenly sent in what I could now see to be Shepard's direction. The blast barely flew over her shoulder, instead impacting the Turian behind her. And the Commander immediately pivoted in response, firing into the dark sky at where it had come from before the thing flashed violet again, now from the opposite side of the trench.

Shepard narrowly dodged this one as well. But only by a thread.

The biotic blast ignited upon impacting the water, and the explosion flung her behind the pillar she had originally just been heading for.

"I...there."

My eyes followed Tanaka's finger as his semi-coherent voice, barely conscious, accompanied a flash of lightning that had lit up the trench. And for that brief second, my eyes opened wide as they witnessed the figure of a Turian drop from a platform levitating several dozen feet in the air. The Turian that Tanaka had been the one to report and cause Fredericks to meet his maker. The Spectre responsible for starting this all. I held my head down as a burst of gunfire suddenly pelted our location again.

* * *

Shepard fiercely spun out of cover, ignoring the uncompromising rain and gunfire sweeping across the trench, decisively training her gun solely on him. And she couldn't help but think how appropriate that a Spectre-issued weapon would be the thing to end the Silver Turian. It was over now that the lightning finally allowed her to see where the bastard had been hiding this entire time.

Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger. Liberally. His barrier was the first to go, purple aura finally dissipating with her gun only half-way to overheating. But despite this event, the bastard continued to casually walk forward through the trench, as if nothing was even happening around him. He simply allowed the next few rounds of hers to be stopped by his shield, the bastard refusing to even flinch. But before she could finish him, finish _this_, Shepard was forced back into cover as darkness fell back over the trench, veiling the Turian, and as the remaining Geth began to fire on her position next.

The voice that soon followed her retreat was rife with arrogance, barely audible over the vimiran storm.

"I applaud you Shepard. My Geth were utterly convinced the Salarians were the real threat. An impressive diversion. Of course, it was all for nothing-"

_Nothing?_

"-I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake."

Her fist curled in frustration, head swirling with emotion as his words rattled in her head. Words left her mouth before she was aware they had even formed.

"This isn't complicated! You'll do anything to get power! Even joining with the Reapers!"

"You've seen the vision from the beacons Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the Reapers are capable of."

Her head ached as the visions began to creep into her head.

_Not now-_

"They cannot be stopped. Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt. Do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The Protheans tried to fight, and they were utterly destroyed. Trillions dead."

That's what the visions showed.

That's what they told her.

But-

"-what if they had bowed before the invaders? Would the Protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?"

Saren's words were as lifeless as his cybernetic eyes. They weren't the words of a free, living being.

No...they were the words of a slave.

"I'd rather die than live under the rule of those machines!"

"Now you see why I never came forward with this to the Council," the Turian scoffed. "We organics are driven by emotion instead of logic. We will fight even when we know we cannot win. But if we _work_ with the Reapers, if we make ourselves _useful_, think how many lives could be spared!"

"Do you really believe that?!"

Another voice rang out over the rain before she could respond, derailing her thoughts.

But it had also given her time to collect herself.

"You think you're the first in time to ever side with them? You don't think that even _one_ Prothean sided with the Reapers in the last cycle?!"

"That _thing_ had even said itself that it existed for millennia," Garrus barked along with him, following his lead. "To think you're the _first_ in galactic history to ever try and appease them is idiotic!"

"...you're both wrong. No one ever submitted. And that is why they died."

Shield spoke again as she glanced at the shadow she presumed to be Garrus, giving him a signal and to pass it along.

"You _idiot_! Why don't you ask Sovereign what's behind the Omega 4 relay then?! There were Protheans that helped the Reapers! But only because they were indoctrinated...just like you!"

"You are delusional Human. That is simply not true. I am aware of the...dangers. That is the reason for this facility...so that it could protect me-"

"And what about the Krogan!?" Wrex shouted out next. "What about the cure to the Genophage?!"

"The facility was never truly meant for that. Just a pretext used to recruit your people to Sovereign's cause. Because with the more Krogan that joined us, the more Sovereign would see organics as useful-"

She had heard enough. Krogan, Salarian, Geth. It didn't matter.

"You're just like every other poor bastard in this place! A tool Sovereign can use then cast aside!"

And instead of more propaganda...the alien immediately tried to refute her. Like he wasn't _just_ trying to convince her. Like...

Like he was trying to convince _himself_ as well.

"I've...studied the effects of indoctrination. The more control Sovereign exerts, the less capable the subject becomes. _That _is my saving grace. Sovereign needs me to find the conduit. My mind is still my own...for now. But the transformation from ally to servant can be subtle. I will not let it happen to me."

It was pathetic.

"But it already has!" Shield shouted over the thunder again.

"If my mother could not fight it...what makes you think you can?!" Liara now joined him.

"She was expendable. Unlike me-"

"Why are the Geth following you?!" Tali's voice curtly echoed over the dark valley of the facility next.

"They believe Sovereign to be some kind of god, the pinnacle of their own evolution. But the reaction of their deity is most telling. It is insulted. Sovereign does not desire the pitiful devotions the Geth hurl at it. They are just tools. And no amount of belief on their part will change that."

"Do you not see anything wrong with that?!" Kaidan shouted at him. "The flaw in your own logic?!"

"But as just tools, they are still _useful_! They will survive the coming invasion. If organic life is to survive, we must also be useful. We must work with the Reapers."

Shepard straightened her stance and peered at the others taking cover. There could be no mistakes. Their timing needed to be perfect. She motioned to another one of the darkened figures as she spoke again.

"Tell me why Sovereign needs the Conduit! Tell me what it is!" she yelled over the storm.

The Turian's inky voice, matching the darkness that had returned to the trench, now returned to her.

"The Conduit is the key to your destruction, and my salvation Shepard. Sovereign needs my help to find it. That is the only reason I have not been indoctrinated-"

"Keep lying to yourself Saren!"

"My mind is still my own!" the Turian shrieked as thunder shook the ground.

"NO, THAT'S WRONG! You're indoctrinated Saren-"

"NO I AM NOT!" the thing shouted with fury.

"You know you are! And there's only way to redeem yourself you bastard! Kill-"

"RARGH!"

A warp suddenly shot through the darkness and detonated where Shield had just been shouting from.

Shepard only grimaced in response.

She hadn't known what he had been doing but...it was what they currently needed.

A distraction.

He had done enough.

"Well I'm not like you Saren! I'd rather die fighting than live as a slave!"

And that statement was absolute.

She would _never_ become a slave.

Not to the Batarians.

Not to the Reapers.

Not to anyone's design.

She would fight to the very end.

Her fate would be her own.

"I'm a Spectre! I swore to defend the galaxy! And you were too. But you broke that vow to save yourself!"

"I'm not DOING this for myself Shepard! Don't you see?!" the rogue Spectre continued to yell enraged. And it was the exact kind of unhinged behavior she'd expected. And particularly wanted. "Sovereign will succeed! It is inevitable. My way is the only way any of us will survive!" She peered around the corner into the darkness, eyes having adjusted enough by now to pick out his pacing figure in the river. "I'm forging an alliance between us, and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed!"

She ducked her head back behind the crate, activating the VI setting for a carnage on her shotgun.

They had stalled long enough. Everyone should be ready.

It was time to end this.

"You're just a depraved, brainwashed lunatic with a messiah complex Saren! It ends here!"

She flipped around the cover and immediately launched the blazing projectile in the Turian's direction.

_DAMMIT!_

But his figure was already gone, back aboard the humming platform she was now aware was somewhere in the air.

"Yes. That's right. Even after all this, you would _still_ undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation on principle. And for that...you must die."

She furrowed her brow, gritted her teeth, grip already tightening around her hand gun now as she immediately switched guns and began firing as Saren and his Geth did the same. Bullets and mass effect fields flew across the gorge, finding targets wherever they were exchanged. Sometime near the beginning she had yelled for her team to target the fallen Spectre entirely. Because his death would end all of this. The Conduit. The Arrival of the Reapers. Everything would end with his-

Then the Geth dropship still humming above them fired its cannon at the solitary pillar standing atop the trench's drain.

"LOOK OUT!"

The shout from afar was overcome by the explosion that shook the ground beneath their feet, with nearly everyone reeling to the ground with the stone tower's collapse. And the event had distracted her just long enough for Saren's own carnage blast to connect dead center with her barrier. The attack stripped her of it as well as her shields, and her helmet smashed against the ground as she was knocked back.

She groaned, mind blank, head rising from the water just in time to see Saren angrily tossing his gun away as he approached. Her fury immediately returned. She attempted to get back up, reach to her gun, fire her pistol on him before his cybernetic arm suddenly grabbed her by the throat, lifting her far up into the air with the ease of a Krogan. The Turian then pulled out a fifteen-centimeter serrated blade from its sheath with his other free hand, eyes as lifeless as she remembered during his trial.

"Know that you die for nothing."

Her hand shot for Saren's claw, stopping it from plunging the knife into her mid-riff entirely, blood already dripping from the entry wound.

Then another loud explosion echoed across the facility.

But this one was not of Saren's design.

And this one was not from the trench.

And her other hand immediately formed a violet fist that connected with Saren's jaw after seeing the opportunity. The action caused the knife to pull out, and herself to quickly drop to the ground gasping in turn.

"The AA tower's down! Normandy, you're free to land!"

_Ash?!_

Her head jerked in the direction of where said AA tower should be, mouth agape at the voice that had just come over the radio. That was before another explosion illuminated the sky, this time coming from the crackling blue Geth ship that had just been hit by two Javelin Torpedoes. The transport began to immediately list, before quickly disappearing into the trench adjacent to theirs.

A siren coming from the bomb began to wail across the facility just seconds after. Her mind snapped back to the matter at hand, and Shepard whipped her eyes back toward her attacker, who was already back aboard his floating platform.

"SAREN!"

Though she called his name, drew her weapon on him, trained it on him, grimacing through the sharp pain in her mid-riff...the Turian merely returned her gaze coldly before disappearing into the dark sky.

She still fired her gun after him, continuing until the pistol began clicking, loudly venting from its overuse.

Then calmly, she let her arm drop to her side and spoke just loud enough for herself to hear.

"Whatever your plan is Saren, it's going to fail. I'll make sure of it."

And with that oath uttered, the Normandy landed in the trench not moments later, bay doors already opening for evac.

"Hey, the Erros just arrived and is already packing us in Commander! As soon as you guys are in the Normandy, punch it!"

"Where were you?!" Shepard shouted into her radio as she began sprinting, half-stumbling toward the ship before her.

"Had to go silent to pick up Kirrahe and Emerson Commander," Ashley replied, sounding almost amused. "Happy to be bringing both back alive. See you soon!"

Shepard was immediately helped aboard the ship by two crewman from engineering.

After being pulled up and stumbling inside with a pained grunt, she looked up in time to witness Wrex throwing his gun inside his locker rather harshly. And near the garage, Garrus was being looked over by Tali, armor clearly singed from the biotic blast Saren had originally intended for her. Already within the garage's bowels, Liara and Tanaka were being looked at, just a little worse for wear. The STG they had picked up had his back against a crate. And then the Commander stopped and leaned against the Mako as she noticed who was missing.

She turned around in time to watch the last team members board the ship, one being escorted on a stretcher by two others, and Doctor Chakwas who had already come down to examine them.

Her blood ran cold when it was clear who was unresponsive.

And an icy shiver ran down her spine as the bay doors began to close.

"Sovereign is RIGHT on our heels Commander! Hold on!"

The voice barely registered as she began cautiously approaching the man downed, taking off her helmet in the process, finding the garage's air frigid upon her skin.

The ship shook as nuclear fire hounded the Normandy's escape. But it did nothing to help warm her.

For he was dead.

* * *

Codex Entry:

_**Saren's Synthetic Arm Graft**_

Arterius purportedly gained his prosthetic arm some time in 2180 CE along with his extensive cybernetics, after an investigation on Jartar led to an underground explosion the Spectre was unable to entirely escape from unscathed. His replacement was obviously Geth in origin, though lack of contact with the Perseus Veil kept most acquainted with the Turian in ignorance. Those who were aware of its source assumed it was contraband the Spectre simply confiscated, not realizing the full extent of his relations with the Geth at this point.

Our own research so far on Geth synthetic muscle fibers have advanced our perception of the field by leaps and bounds. By using the knowledge gained from this new research, our cell found a viable way to attach natural ligaments and tendons to synthetic muscle fiber in an attempt to replicate Saren and the Geth's own accomplishment. Using heavy bone weaves along with a number of synthetic threads containing a number of monitored mini-processors allows replacement limbs to be integrated with little hassle.

While this prosthetic is significantly stronger than a natural one however, they still result in a number of safety hazards that stop them from being used at full capacity. This is due to the sheer strain on the body of using such a limb that exerts force magnitudes beyond its own. Just lifting a weight with a synthetic arm past the body's limit would likely permanently damage the organic muscle fibers and ligaments still residing on the scapula and clavicle. We are still examining how Saren has overcome this pitfall, if he has at all.

Interestingly, this type of prosthetic's simulated tissue operates just the same as other Geth platforms. It even grants the additional bonus of being hardened against EMPs and electrical attacks, according to the data cores 'we received'. While the exterior shell does protect the more 'delicate' synthetic muscle underneath from menial debris, it can be breached, and it appears damage to the synthetic tissue itself requires repair. This can apparently be achieved via regular medical means...notably including medi-gel. Which is a phenomenon that has even been observed by several of our own agents.

How the Geth came to learn about this mechanic, let alone adopt it into their own military complex is subject to another investigation entirely.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Update. E'er. Day. Hyphy.

But to be honest, every time I writ for this chapter, I was disappointed with how it eventually turned out. All the various outcomes I wrote for it didn't really match what I wanted, and it kept reading real weird too. The Virmire mission was legendary, but I found myself never quite capturing that in the end. And I don't think I ever was. So at the end of the day, this was the rendition I decided to stick with. The follow-up will hopefully mend some things and misgivings I have with it.

And I learned recently that Saren wasn't supposed to look like a Geth abomination until AFTER Virmire in the game. Was supposed to have a regular Turian model before Bioware ran out of budget to do so. I already mentioned his extensive cybernetics though so here's my codex explanation for why. Got them by covering up and destroying Reaper artifacts for Sovereign that could point to his existence.

**Reviews:**

Maes~desu - Did I just read JAJAJAJA?! What the hell?! You're reading a whole-bred, yankee-born, American story son! I won't have any Jajaja or salu2 or muak's up in this story you dig?! Speak American. Or South American. And I guess Central American is acceptable too. For I only recognize the languages of America, comprenez vous?!

Elvis the 23rd - Me too.

The Ultimate Booty - Oh my god. A TvTropes page?! That's when you know you made it. Hit that place up all the time. And of course, Shield nearly dying _literally_ every fight is a gag I will never stop using. You can pry that passe cliche from this story over Shield's cold dead hands.

Demon of the Night Wind 199 - And I kno rite?! Wrex getting cut-scene killed by Ash on Virmire in one shot? AS IF. Krogan Battlemasters are reputedly bad ass enough to measure up to 10 soldiers of any race. Ain't no one soloing a Krogan and walking away unscathed. Except for another Krogan maybe. Even Shepard learned that in Chapter 12.

Ton of Deku - I'll pray for your safety.

(Rains)Frère Jacques - And it's something that Shield himself will have to be mindful of in the coming trials. Maintaining that resolve and laser-guided intent on what he originally sets out to do. Though unforeseen consequences are just part of the game. It's extremely hard to be prepared for every scenario, and though I hate to have him regress, some setbacks are gonna happen despite his best efforts since he can't hope to anticipate them...I guess I hope that this one will just serve as his final lesson, and that he'll learn Indy Ploys rarely work out the way they do in the movies.

Good Ol Beej - I also really did nitpick over this, and whether or not Saren did have a cure in the end. Since yeah, both interpretations are equally valid. You'd think the STG of all things would know what's _really_ going on inside, though in this head-canon, they just intercepted Droyas' mad rambling and took it at face value. I ended up settling on the cloning route when I came across ME writer Patrick Weekes' post on PennyArcade however, where _he_ stated Saren's base really was just a cloning facility. But again, the game itself never explicitly says so eh. I just wished I took an opportunity during the chapter to make an 'Attack of the Clones' reference. Would've been top kek.

* * *

**In the next chapter: The End Draws Near.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	43. Accepting the Aftermath

Joker frowned as Shepard dismissed the fire team from their post-op briefing. From what he heard, it had not been a pleasant one. Of course, nor had the mission itself.

He glanced over his shoulder as Harry informed him on what his scour of the sector reported.

And after hearing it, the pilot put his finger on the intercom for the conference room.

"Commander, there's a comm buoy nearby. I can link us in if you want to report back to the Citadel Council." He felt his strength sap form his body as the words left his mouth. "...you know, to warn them about Sovereign."

The Reapers. Their periodic Reaping. The thousands already...Reaped.

It would have been hard, maybe impossible, to swallow it if he hadn't been listening over Shepard's comm like he usual did. Should probably stop like Rosie always told him to. But Liara was right. There was no way in hell that was a VI speaking. Unless Saren had a sick sense of humor. But he didn't really take the Turian to be the 'joking' type. Any Turian really.

"They're not going to believe any of this," he heard Shepard's voice quietly respond over it. "Not without proof. We'd just be wasting our time."

"Aye, aye Commander," he simply deigned to reply. Because she was right. The Council hadn't listened before, so why would they listen now? Especially with how every last transmission between them had ended so far. He could almost laugh. Last time, after the mission to Feros, he had told Shepard that cutting them off would never get old. But like all good jokes...it had. Had grown old right when they actually needed their help the most. It had really come back around to bite them in the ass. "Yeah...Sovereign will be sitting on the Citadel's roof before those bastards listen to us."

A lull fell over the comm as he realized both their responses had been hollow. Empty rhetoric. Avoiding the topic of what happened-

He had to say something.

"Commander, I know it couldn't be easy for you down there. Having to make a call between Fredericks and Alenko must have been...it was...and when Ashley came back I-"

"In the end it doesn't matter. The mission is more important than its soldiers Joker."

It was so faint. He had almost missed the waver in her voice.

"Commander...it's not your fault. No matter which you picked, they still would have...I'm just saying...it's hard, you know-"

"Saren's still out there, Joker. Hold it together. We need you."

And just like that, she was back. The stern, commanding, charismatic voice of the Shepard returned. A voice so confident that you couldn't help but feel everything would turn out alright in the end. Though things just hadn't this time around.

Joker tugged at the end of his cap, eyes drifting down toward his feet.

"Don't worry, I won't let you down Commander."

_For all the people we lost over this mission... _

He stared down at his hands before quickly balling them into fists.

_The ones who still live depend on us. _

"I want to be there when you make that son of a bitch pay!"

"And we will," the Commander assured him. "I'll be at the CiC shortly. Send the report."

"On it."

Focusing on the interface now, he tapped a few buttons before their direct channel to the embassy was opened. Then with a quick flick, he sent the details of their most recent mission through. Only two minutes needed to pass as usual before a response from the Embassy was received.

And as a sensor indicated someone was already overlooking the Galactic Map, Joker immediately let the Commander know, having skimmed enough to know what it said.

"I forwarded the mission update to the Citadel, Commander. We've got confirmation on those reinforcements." A couple somber cheers accompanied the announcement on the bridge. "Ambassador Udina wants us to report back to the Citadel. The Council is apparently massing a joint-species fleet to deal with Saren and his Geth."

"Took them long enough," the Commander briskly replied. "Back to the Citadel, Joker. I want the Normandy at the head of that fleet!"

"Yes ma'am."

Pressly's preset navigation route to the Relay was already locked in as he started up the FTL drive of the Normandy. It'd only be a matter of time before they reached the Serpent Nebula and Citadel itself.

And then they'd catch the bastard responsible once and for all.

* * *

"I can't believe those bastards caught us with our pants down! What were they even thinking? Ground the ship? What the hell?"

"I know! I mean, you heard Joker in the CiC right? The Normandy was supposed to be at the head of a Citadel fleet! Not-"

"Not hogtied and locked away like a colonist caught by some greasy Batarian slaver?"

"Yeah! What the hell happened?!"

"...does anyone even know why?"

The silence was stifling.

"Because Udina," I decided to slur, toying with my bottle at the bar. "...is a lying slut."

"...Udina isn't really responsible for this, is he?"

"He's one of those lying bastard politician types. I wouldn't be surprised if he did sell us out!"

"Is that really true Shield?" Requisitions Officer Fantum now asked three chairs down.

I neglected to look up in response.

"...does it really matter?"

"I'm sorry?"

I slowly swiveled my stool in his direction. But not to address the guy. No, my focus was already far off into the distance, past the Embassy Lounge's balcony, out towards the traffic as its bright tints and exotic colors flew by, more than possibly imaginable. Their hues were flashing and passing before my eyes could even register what they were. Hell, hundreds of those skycars outside traveled at speeds faster than you could feasibly follow. And the very sight of it all was entrancing. Humbling. Haunting. And made me a little sick, which caused me to slacken the tight grip I currently had on my bottle.

"What would you even do about it if he was?" I coldly asked.

"Man, I'd teach that rat bastard what happens when you sell out your own race!" Rob started again.

"The Embassies are watched 24/7 Felawa-"

"You mean 20/10," Tony corrected him, who if I remembered correctly, was Adam's right-hand man down in engineering. Before Tali had come and replaced him anyway.

"Fuck that Citadel bullshit. If the Human Calendar works for us, it can do the same for everyone else," the other engineer sporting a cap cursed. I think his name was Orden, but I wasn't too familiar with him. "Anyway, like I was saying, you wouldn't even get close Felawa. C-Sec monitors everything around here. Hell, they'll probably be here in a sec to throw your dumb ass out for just saying that shit."

I took another drink as several Asari looked over in scorn. This wasn't exactly the place I imagined these guys would be going when Tony had invited me along. In fact, I'd consider the posh place the anti-thesis to the dirty marines and members of the so-called blackgang currently with me. But then again, I hadn't really cared in the first place where we were going when I had left the ship. I just wanted off. To clear my head. After my plan-

What plan? Nothing had gone right. No, Phase 1 had. I had gotten myself on Shadow Team afterall. But Phase 2 fell through when there was no Genophage cure to get. Phase 3 was sick in the first place, not something I had even truly wanted to do. And Phase 4 had just been a pipe dream, as if blatantly telling Saren to kill himself would even work.

But in the end...it didn't really matter.

I had to keep thinking.

"...so what? We're just supposed to sit here and do nothing? What's the Commander doing right now? She's not going to just sit down and allow this to happen is she?"

"Last I heard from Adams...she was headed for Huerta. Checking in on Alenko," Fantum replied.

And each man frowned, taking a swig as his name was uttered, silence falling back over the bar.

The booze itself had done little to ease the pain currently resonating in my head.

Not that the pain was physical. Though I'm sure part of it was. It was impossible not to be after what happened. My armor stopped a bullet going through my gut, leaving a bruise. Then I was hit with a biotic blast that ripped my armor and face up on the molecular level, scratches now abundant on both. And then a giant column had almost fallen on me. Which for others had-

"It's my fault!"

And most of their heads couldn't help but turn in his direction as Felawa spit out the words.

"Man if I had just gotten to him in time...if I had been closer, I could have-"

"Hey, stop that," Tony quieted him, touching his shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for what happened."

"But he's-"

"Still alive. And that's all that matters Robert. We just need to keep him in our thoughts and pray in the end that everything will turn out alright. Alright?"

"Alright?" the engineer next to him scoffed. "...you did see him before they carted him off, didn't you? A two-ton slab fell on top of him Tony! He was flattened like a fuckin' pancake! There's no way he's gonna make it-"

"Shut the hell up Orden!" Tony yelled at him, attracting a piercing glare from a nearby group.

But in some sense...the guy had been right. The stone pillar towering above us had been completely obliterated by the Geth ship, toppling over like a Jenga tower and...and Kaidan hadn't been so lucky.

No, that was wrong.

He had _chosen_ not to be.

"He only got hit because he had been protecting the bomb," my voice left my lips coldly. "If it wasn't for him...we wouldn't have made it out."

"You...you saw what happened?" Rob only muttered.

"A piece of debris from the pillar was about to land on the nuke. And Kaidan flung it away with his biotics. That was the only reason why he was hit by the rest. There wouldn't have been anything you could have done to stop it." Not even the biotics nearby had been able to. Though if they hadn't immediately gone to help him...if Kaidan had been left buried under there a second too long...

Yet still, he was in critical condition when Rob had brought him aboard with me. Even the veteran doctor who had been through Shanxi, Mindoir, the Skyllian Blitz...had been at a loss for words.

Shepard had thought he was dead. You could see it on her face.

The look she had when he had suddenly coughed-

"To Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko," Fantum replied next to Rob, holding up his drink.

After a small pause, we all decided to repeat the name and take another swig.

"...so Udina huh?"

Rob absentmindedly traced the rim of his drink in response.

"Him and the Council."

"How can you be so sure Shield?"

"Yeah, you always _do_ seem to know what's going on don't you? So how exactly did the Normandy's lockdown get past that information network of yours-"

"It didn't."

"Wha-" Fantum stared at me dumbly for a second before recovering. "Get out of here! Why didn't you warn someone then? Why-"

"I told Joker." I almost went to the Commander too. But she would have just said the same as him. "But why would anyone have believed me in the first place? They had an actual message telling them the exact opposite of what I was saying. The Council _itself_ said it was going to send in a fleet. Not a peep about taking the Normandy out of commission."

"But if you had evidence, you could have convinced them, couldn't you?!"

"Hmph." I just snorted at Rob's reply. "I didn't have any evidence. So at the end of the day, there's no one to blame for any of it besides Udina. It is what it is."

He only furrowed his brows and frowned in response. And then the capped engineer spoke up.

"...it was your ship though, wasn't it? So we _can_ blame you for what happened to the others right?"

I really didn't like Orden all that much.

"Shut the hell up Laflamme!" Tony chided him again.

The only survivor of the Third Regiment on our ship, Ganto, had said something similar before disembarking to report to the Salarian Union upon our arrival. That it-

"-wasn't your fault either Shield, alright? Things there just spiraled out of our control. Anyone's control."

"I know," I immediately shot back at Fantum, not in the mood for the discussion.

I knew it wasn't my fault.

Kirrahe's teams had just failed to do what they did every time you played that level in the game.

_Level. Heh._

So I couldn't blame that outcome on myself. There was no way I could have accounted for it.

"I...I never actually heard about that," Rob muttered now. "I was with Tanaka in the infirmary when someone mentioned it in passing. What happened to-"

"Shield's sorry excuse for a ship got them all killed," Orden spoke plainly.

"That's not confirmed," Fantum interjected. "Gladstone just lost the ship's heat signature after the thermal spike from the nuke blinded their sensors. And comm specialist Slint-"

"You mean Harry?" Rob asked.

"You know him? Yeah, Harry wasn't able to raise them on the comms after we lost them-"

"So they were killed in the nuclear blast. Maybe because the ship sucked, maybe because Salarians don't know how to pilot, maybe because Shield sabotaged it because he's a traitor like the Commander's always-"

"I think you've had enough," Tony immediately replied, yanking Orden up by the collar. "I'm bringing you back to the dorm."

"Fine!" Orden snapped back while pulling away from the balding man. "I didn't want to sit around moaning about this shit all day anyways! Because _I_ actually want to do something about all this! Don't you?! Why are you all so content to just throw your hands in the air and give up-"

"I'M NOT GIVING UP!"

I'm sure my voice shocked them. Everyone around us.

But I wasn't giving up.

I wasn't just sitting here moaning. Moping. Whining.

I _wasn't_.

I stared at him indignant, already on my feet facing him.

"Unlike you Laflamme, who's just bitching and blaming all our problems on random _shit_ to make yourself feel better, I'm actually in the middle of doing something about it."

"Oh, you are? You have a _plan_, do you?"

"I'm _working_ on it."

"Oh, okay then _Marauder Shield._ Please. Enlighten us. I know _I'll_ be eagerly waiting with open arms for when your genius finally shows itself and saves us all. You traitor-"

"Get the hell out of here man," Rob said as Tony jostled Laflamme outside.

I sat back down and returned to my drink, finding the empty bottle reflecting a distorted face. Rob and Fantum decided to watch the two engineers go before returning to the company present.

"...the mission shook a lot of people up. Things got pretty bad back there. So don't judge him for just now Shield. Everyone expresses their frustration in different ways-"

"I know."

Fantum rubbed his neck before getting up from his seat too.

"I think I'm actually going to call it a night guys. I've been promising my mom a call once we were finally ground side and haven't got the chance to yet." He glanced back before solemnly nodding to us one last time. "Catch you all later."

And as he left...it was down to just the two of us.

Felawa peered at his drink beside me, deep in thought about something, though I couldn't possibly know what. We had talked about a lot this past hour.

"...so you said you had a plan to get us out of this Rod?"

"...yeah," I quietly replied. "Maybe. Almost. I just-"

"Is it a way for us to get the Normandy out of lockdown? I mean, you must know people in the control tower with your connections right? Or the Citadel? People that could actually lift the lockdown if you just-"

"Yeah. I do."

His eyes lit up. "Really?! So we could actually-"

"But do we even really want to?"

And the question clearly had taken him aback.

"Wha...what do you mean?"

"Rob...what if Saren attacks the Citadel after the Normandy leaves? What would you do then? If you missed the chance to stop him from opening the door for the Reapers because you were on your way to a place he had already visited and left? What if you end up chasing Saren down to Ilos but it's too late, and he's already gone? There's so many different things that could happen. So many things that could go wrong. So it would be stupid to just go rushing in. Wouldn't it be better to-"

I stopped when I saw the puzzled look on his face.

"Uh...I guess man? I mean, it's good to think things through once in a while, not rush in to things blindly...but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try right? We still gotta try regardless of the odds against us don't we?"

And after a while, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Um, you okay Rod?"

"Haha...no, you're right. Sorry. Just realized something funny."

Yeah. I had just realized that I really couldn't help it. Overthinking was just in my nature. All the what ifs. All the second guessing. The paralyzing indecision of making the wrong choice. Thought so much that the thought of the thoughts themselves became useless and I forgot about why I was even thinking about the thought of the thing I thought about it in the first place thought. And I had never accomplished anything thru it.

All the missed opportunities. All the missions that had gone the same because I refused to act.

Actions are what change things, not thoughts.

I knew that now.

Marauder Shield doesn't think.

He does.

With a pitiable sigh, I quickly opened my omni-tool and began typing the letter I had already been forming in my head, being sure to use the address I had received in my talk with Joker earlier. In case things had changed more than I remembered. Just to be safe-

"Hey, Rod?"

"...yeah?"

"If you really do have a plan to get us back in the running...you should talk with the Commander about it too. If you let her know, I'm sure she would be able to make it happen man."

"Rob, Shepard hates to even look at me. I don't think-"

"She doesn't hate _you_ dude. She just...hates that you're never honest. I know you have your secrets and all Rod, but that's like what she dislikes most. All the Commander really asks from any of us is to just be straight when we talk with her. No games. No passive-aggressive stuff or mind games or anything like that. When you talk with her, just speak from the heart. If you treat her with that kind of respect...she'll do the same man. Like she always says, 'Trust. That's what a mission needs to succeed.'...you know?"

"...hmph."

Felawa then turned his face up to the ceiling.

"I know you and the Commander never really saw eye to eye when you were on the ship man but...hey. I'd trust her with my life. I'd trust her with all our lives dude. She's the only one you can count on to get things done no matter the odds. And that's the truth."

"...wow." The guy nodded his head along with the sage words that had just left his mouth. And in response, I could only stare at him in disbelief. "That last part was from Blasto, wasn't it."

And he immediately froze where he was.

"...you saw that episode huh."

"Ayup."

_Blasto fights the Rogue Matriarch._

"Oh."

The man could only hang his head in shame for wanting to pawn that horribly written shit off as his own.

"...that was so bad, I don't think I can even look at you anymore. Get the hell out of here."

But despite his poor taste in film as I pointed my finger to the exit...I had to give it to him. The quote had been apt. Maybe I should do just that.

Because for the current predicament we were in...it _was_ the truth.

For us, there was only one person you could count on to get things done. No matter the odds.

* * *

"Without the expected reinforcements...that will significantly decrease the odds of our success." "You've seen the visions from the beacon, Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the reapers are capable of!" "We just lost contact with the Erros Commander...they're gone." "Nobody is messing with my head anymore! I'm sick of dealing with these visions!" "He's in critical condition Commander. He might not make it through the night." "The Conduit's on Ilos! That's where Saren is heading. And we'll be waiting for him when he gets there!" "We've locked out all the Normandy's primary systems. Until further notice, you're grounded." "You're the only one who can stop Saren Shepard...I believe in you."

She could only stare blankly at the locker in front of her as a million words and one grasped for her attention.

_...how did everything go so wrong? _

She felt her hand press itself against the cold locker.

_...how did this happen?_

Her body dropped down to its knees.

_...how did-_

Her back slowly slid down against the locker as she shut her eyes.

It was all because of her. Because she had failed again. Failed to do her sole duty as a Commander. As a leader. And what she had said when people kept trying to comfort her...

She shut her eyes in frustration.

The mission did _not_ come before the soldiers. It should never _have_ to.

She had made a vow when she became a marine. When she became an N7.

Never again.

But-

Virmire. Eden Prime. Torfan. _Mindoir!_

Again and again! She always lost the people close to her. No matter how hard she tried. No matter what steps she took! She never believed that Anderson's words would apply to her because she'd be better than the rest. She _had_ to be. But they always-

She heard somebody sit themselves down at the opposite end of the locker row. And for the first time in a long while...she didn't have the strength to hide what she was currently feeling. To hold her head high in light of the circumstances. To wear a mask and reassure them that everything would be alright. She couldn't make herself look the part of a leader despite everything that's happened. Not right now. Because who could call themselves one when they had lost their crew, their ship, their-

"I thought I might find you here."

And the voice immediately made her regret her decision.

"...I'm not in the mood. Leave me be," she could only mutter pathetically. Of all the people to have come aboard-

"Heh. It's funny you say that...because you know...I happened to ask myself that a lot since I met you. From the very beginning. Why I didn't just..._leave you be_. Just go about my own way after Eden Prime. Maybe to Earth. Or the Citadel. Omega. I mean, that very first time on Eden Prime you pushed me to the fore when I said I didn't even have combat training-"

"It was because I thought you were involved with the Geth. It was so you couldn't shoot us in the back at the first opportunity you got."

She had been planning to ignore him. Or just simply bear the shame of allowing him to see her at her worst while she walked away.

"-oh. Right. Haha. I remember now. Yeah, you accused me of killing Nihlus back then didn't you? Tossed me around the med bay like a rag doll trying to get me to confess. That was pretty funny looking back at it now."

But he was just so damn _arrogant_.

"Despite what you may think though, I really didn't appreciate all the criticism and punishment I took from you while I was aboard this ship. I'm no masochist Shepard. I think...pretty sure. Maybe a little bit. I don't know. It's up in the air."

Like she even _cared_ about anything the annoying cunt had to say.

"But...yeah, I thought about it. Why I never really faulted you for any of it. After all the abuse and accusations and character assassination...why I still wanted to be aboard this ship. Tolerate your presence. The hate. And after our _mutual_ split...I guess I kind of had the time to finally realize the why."

Hearing every little word that left his mouth was like living thru N-School all over again.

He was just so damn _annoying_ she couldn't help but be brought down to his level and respond. Every word was just so infuriating-

She clenched her fist and finally raised her head from where it had been laying.

"Dammit! Just spit it out or shut up and leave already Shield! I don't have time to coddle you-"

"It's because I admire you Shepard."

And for the first time...she realized how quiet the Normandy was when it wasn't running. Like Tali had said...the silence aboard a ship was deafening.

"Yeah. Because...you're an icon. A hero. No matter what happens around you...what goes wrong, what people say, whatever obstacles are thrown in your way...you're always so...sure of yourself. You're so charismatic that people follow you wherever you go just because you're...you. Because you believe in yourself so goddamn much. And also because you're important. Heh. No matter what anyone says, you're at the center of galactic events. Every decision you choose, every key choice you make, everything you do affects the entire galaxy around you. For better or worse."

She couldn't leave. Though she wished that she could. It was like a wreck you couldn't avert your eyes from. Wished that it wasn't actually happening. That he wasn't currently saying the things he was. Just being in the vicinity of it was so sickening she was sure she was going to vomit.

"I...I _wish_ I could feel like that. Feel like I was worth something. So that I didn't have to constantly second guess everything I ever did. Have at least some inkling of confidence to be proud of the few things I've accomplished. I guess I hoped that by just being around you...helping you, in at least some small way...I was hoping that I could feel like I was...maybe important for once."

She _wished_ that he was lying, just mocking her in his own annoying way.

But she could tell just by listening to him. By looking at that pathetic face. And-

No. Anyone with eyes could see that the words coming out his mouth was actually, completely, sickeningly...genuine.

"...I guess for the first time in my life...I wanted to feel like I mattered-"

"Why are you telling me this."

She couldn't even look him in the face as she asked.

Why.

"Because I wanted you to know the truth Shepard," he simply replied without shame, standing where he was now awkwardly, completely unembarrassed by the filth that had just left his mouth. But-

_The truth?_

"Why I keep following you around. It's not because I'm trying to further some conspiracy's agenda or sabotage your mission. It's not even about Saren. Not really. I just lied because...I just wanted to protect my own ego. It was all really just so I could live out my own pathetic fantasy as a hero."

_...how far was he really willing to take this?_

"...then tell me why you attempted to save the Rachni. How could that have-"

"Completely by accident."

He didn't even blink while saying it. And she could only shut her eyes in response.

"...bullshit. Do you know that Garrus and Tali confronted me after that? Tried to convince me that your decision hadn't been wrong in the end? That saving them would have been the ethical one-"

"No idea what button I was pressing. Didn't even have a choice in mind."

She gritted her teeth, and still unable to look at him, turned her eyes back downward toward her feet. Because unlike the fake explanation he had given her during their second confrontation in the med bay...his words this time just..._felt_ honest. Unlike all the rest.

"...if you...then what about the rest Shield? The first things you said. All the stories about the Shadow Broker and where you get your intel and why-"

"Long story short, I have a thing in my head that helps me keep track of important information. Called a gray box-"

_The hell's a gray box-_

"And the STG confirmed it with a scan on Virmire. But that's old news. I just thought you wouldn't believe me Shepard."

_No. He had mentioned that when was in the airlock. But that...just like then, he was still-_

"Like I said Shepard, I've made a lot of mistakes. But I know this isn't one of them." The idiot swiped at his nose. "I'm here right now to tell you that we can still fix things. That you shouldn't give up-"

"Who says I was giving up?!"

The man recoiled as she shot up from where she had been curling up, refuting him. She wasn't giving up. She was-

And the thought soon caused her to reflexively look back toward the locker she had just been sitting against...in despair. She had completely forgotten why she was here once he had just started...talking with her. She had forgotten what their circumstances currently were.

"...it's not too late to stop Saren Shepard."

But he was wrong.

"...it is Shield. I showed them the truth and they still won't believe. The Normandy's locked down. The crew's suspended. The Council isn't sending in their fleet. Sov-"

"You saw the vision Shepard! You know the Conduit is on Ilos. And you know Saren's headed there for it. I'd never expect you'd to just give up due to a little setback-"

_Setback?!_

She couldn't stifle the feelings that immediately welled within her when the word reached her ears.

"They DIED Shield! Hector, Clark, Ashley!" Her fist banged against the locker with every name. "And Kirrahe, along with the rest of his men! Because _I _chose the mission over them! Because of me-"

"You don't know that."

Her mind came to an immediate stop as it attempted to decipher the words that had just left his lips.

"..._What?_"

"Just because you lost contact with their ship doesn't mean they died Shepard."

Then she almost laughed once she realized what he had meant.

"Don't just give someone empty platitudes, Shield. You know what you're saying isn't true. They're _gone_."

"You thought the same about Kaidan when you first saw him didn't you? That _he_ was gone?"

Anyone would have made the same assumption. He-

"Even I did. But he turned out to be still hanging on to life, didn't he? Despite looking like death? And so did everyone else for that matter. No one escaped unscathed from Virmire Shepard. Not even you," he said, gesturing to where her stomach had been bandaged by Chakwas. "So why can't the Erros' fate be the same as Kaidan's? It's comm system or FTL drive might have just hit a snag when outrunning the blast. Or it might have run out of fuel, stopped to pick up a hitchhiker, capture Saren, who knows? Why don't you have a little faith in someone for once?"

And at that moment, after all her paranoia and assumptions...she realized the man really was just a bumbling idiot that put his foot in his mouth far too often.

"Do you really believe that? ...because that's childish, even for you Shield."

The man dressed in the dirty Alliance fatigues Kaidan had once given him just sighed in response.

"Shepard...if I told you that fate demanded Ashley or Kaidan die that day...and that no matter what choices you made or what actions you took, that there was nothing you could do to change that fact...the fact that SOMEONE had to die there...would you believe me?"

She begrudgingly decided to humor him.

"No. Why the hell would I?"

"Hah, exactly!" his somber face immediately replied with a grin. "Even if you're told or hear something...that doesn't mean it's true. Or that you have to believe it. So, I say, why the hell does the Erros have to be destroyed at all? Why can't it just be straggling along, and show up at the Citadel a week from now? Hell...I'd be willing to bet on it."

"That kind of optimism is stupid, naïve, and dangerous, Shield."

"Call it what you want...but nothing's over until _you_ give up Shepard. You can't change the past. But you can go forward. Any possibility, anything at all can be yours the moment you take that step onwards. You just have to seize that possible future you want yourself. And _that's_ the truth."

_...what the hell kind of fortune cookie did he-_

"Liara?"

The name escaped her lips as she suddenly spotted the Asari's eyes disappear around the corner. Shield turned around toward the corner as they slowly came to peek back out.

"I...I apologize for intruding Commander," the doctor replied as she left the safety of the wall. "I didn't think anyone was here. But then I saw you on the dock and-"

"It's fine Liara," Shield replied, cutting the meek Asari off. "I was just about finished telling the Commander how we can get the Normandy out of lockdown anyway."

"What?!"

"Oh, did I not mention that yet?" the man immediately replied with a still infuriating smirk. "Was trying to work toward it. Just got a message from Anderson telling us to meet him at the Purgatory Bar. Right near the Presidium. Spread the word. Probably should get going actually."

When had he been in contact with Anderson?! Was that how he-

"Is he appealing to the Council? Did he get them to reverse their decision?" Liara suddenly inquired.

"I think he'd like to tell Shepard that himself," Shield cryptically replied, already walking past the Asari to the stairs.

"Then may I come as well? After everything that's occurred...I would like to see this through," Liara gently asked.

"Yeah, of course. The entire ground team should be present for it. So come on. We got a Galaxy to save."

A grimace appeared on her face as she found herself being forced to tail the man who continued onward without another word.

"And like Shield, I..." The Asari beside the Commander looked at her full of concern.

"...I believe in you too Shepard. I'm glad you're not walking away. I am with you every step of the way."

"...thank you Liara."

She then gave the Asari a curt nod, not intending to let Shield out of her sight. He was still hiding things but...despite everything. Against her better judgement...she believed that he really did just want to help.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**David Anderson's N1 Graduate Address of 2176**

"So...here we are. It was about twenty years ago to the dot that I was seated where you all are now. I know, I'm much older than I look. Haha, yes...but...here you all are. The best and the brightest. The best men and women that the Alliance and Humanity has to offer. But I'm not here to talk to you about that today. After what you've all been through, I'm sure you all already know that. Have had that pounded into your brains. No, what I'm here for today is to talk to you all about the implications of this. Graduating that is. What being N7 really means.

There any many things they that make one a good soldier. Honor. Loyalty. Courage. Strength. A sense of duty, the ability to understand and follow orders, the ability to work under pressure and countless others. All go into making a good soldier. But...what makes a good leader? As N'ers, others will look to you for guidance. Place their bets on whatever decision you make. So...how do you know what'll be right? What the right choice to make will be?

What makes a good leader?

In my experience...a good leader is someone who values the life of his men over the success of the mission. But understands that sometimes, the cost of failing a mission is higher than the cost of losing those men. When you first join the military, whether it be the Alliance or otherwise, the first things you learn include marching, shooting, survival...stuff like that...combat skills. The simple blocks that lay down the foundation for active duty. Knowing once you've been trained for combat, it follows logically that, however remote the chances, you might see combat...and as eventual N7 operatives, I know, and you know, that you all will. That once you're out on the field, you'll have to make the hardest decisions you've ever made in you entire lives. Decisions that'll mean the difference between life and death for many.

A general by the name of George S. Patton once said 'The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine. When you have collected all the facts and fears, made your decision...that's when you turn off all your fears and go ahead!"

If you're worried about making the wrong decision...unfortunately...I can guarantee that you'll make one. And that it'll have catastrophic consequences.

In my twenty two years as a marine, I've learned that there's no way to avoid this. The problem with war is that it isn't orderly. And the enemy is never predictable. Even the most experienced veteran is going to find themselves in situations they haven't trained for. In those instances, and there's more than I'd like to admit, your instincts are the only thing keeping you alive. That, and the men and women you're fighting beside. We pulled each other's asses out of the fire on more than just one occasion. I trusted my team with my life... and they never let me down.

And I'm telling you all this so that when that time comes...when you have to make that decision, you'll do it knowing that the men and women beside you understand. They bleed alongside you knowing that you did all that you could to make the right decision. That you did your duty as a good leader. That's all that you can ask of yourself in the end."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I _was_ originally going to release this yesterday...but then because of the _implications_, I decided not to. I shudder to think what would happen had I posted this on Valentine's Day. I've gotten too many PMs about it. I won't do it you animals. I refuse. Call me Dr. Iceberg because I'm sinking this ship. Shepield ain't happening. EVER. So stop it!

And yeah, the person Shep saw was indeed Alenko on that stretcher. Yet he wasn't even actually dead! Damn those stupid, purposefully misleading, morally bankrupt cliffhangers for making you think otherwise. Shield was just hit with a warp and Felawa came out of it all just fine and dandy. Shame on you to those who thought I'd just sacrifice him because he's an ancillary character. Shame! NPC lives matter. However, something did happen to Ashley and the STG on the MSV Erros offscreen so...eh. Oh the annoying bait and switches! Oh the unnecessary retcons! Woe to be to whoever actually reads this story!

Your guess as to how everything turns out after the Normandy's regrouping at Purgatory is as good as mine.

**Reviews. I guess.**

I was gonna type out an endless amount of zeroes for your name, but then I thought that would be childish, and then I realized it was impossible, so I just wrote this entire sentence out instead - Bruh. If Shield was gonna die, you can be damn sure he'd go out in a blaze of glory then get killed by a single warp from Saren, geez. Like I said, dude escapes from the clutches of death like every chapter. Having him saved at the last moment is practically obligatory at this point. Though I gotta say, Shield as a zombie is starting to sound pretty tempting...

Priapus, aka, the God of Ass - I rather have Shepard evolve into Garchomp. Now that's a badass pokemon. Dragontrainer4lyfe. But yeah, Saren trying to convince himself he's not indoctrinated is one of my favorite parts of the game. Fred Tatiascore's top notch. Was gonna try and capitalize on that. And did you mean Huey from Metal Gear? Because if so, that guy was far from insane. I remember him being the nicest guy. Great father, loved to swim, had a way with words. Great Character.

Mazda - Good, good. Maybe Trump won't deport you now. You're welcome.

EF23 - Tensions like you won't believe son. And according to this chapter...no one is! Yaaay!

The Divine Crusader - Naaaaw, he was totally safe on ship when that thing popped off. I don't care what Stan Lee says or how sophisticated armor is in Mass Effect. You get exposed to nuclear radiation, you're gonna have a bad time. Though you do walk around on Tuchanka without a helmet, which is the mother of all nuclear wastelands so...eh. Shield becoming Robo-Stein and going all T1 on everyone's ass would be pretty dope though. Would surely be a choice of Stein's Gate. Shit, I'd watch that anime.

Bannorn of Redcliffe - You know what happens when you assume? You end up making an ass of u and...urself. Shield's master scheme went even better than you thought after this chapter's exposition eh? Asides from the STG and half of the marines being MIA. And Kaidan being in ICU. Yeah, at least no one's dead! For sure. Maybe. However, I'm glad you have such faith in our idiot despite his shortcomings. But you'd be surprised to find how stupid he is. I mean, Shield's so stupid, that if you gave him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change. Shield's so stupid, that when he reached rock bottom, he started to dig. Shield's so stupid, it took him over 3 hours to watch 60 Minutes. Shield's so I ran out of material. And may he be with you.

Dekupound - Well look no further. Because you already read it.

Toothless is Best - Well Mordin runs a penniless free clinic on Omega so what does he know. And WRONG #NoMoreDeadSquadMates

* * *

**In the next chapter: The Finale Is Nigh.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	44. Independent of Ilos' Investigation

Mass Effect Elevator Music - 15 minutes worth (As that's how long someone should listen to this. I'm not ashamed to say I did.)

* * *

"..."

"..."

"..."

If I learned anything at all during my exile in Kithoi Ward, it was this.

I loathed the elevator song.

I enjoyed it because of the simple nostalgia at first. Like the fool I was. Then because it was mildly humorous seeing how much everyone else hated it. Because, like, who could possibly despise such a light-hearted and campy tune? It was crazy. Then I realized after spending half an hour stuck in an elevator, alone with my thoughts and the music, that, oh, I did. Its chirpy yet innocuous, mild, anodyne horns blaring over and over and over. Its bland, unvarying, simplistic harmony, replayed _ad nauseum__. _Its lack of syncopation and stale, mind-numbing over-reliance on the concept of transformation to Narmour's prosodic rules for creating rhythmic successions based on one's melodic expectations.

Its unnecessarily, repetitive, monotonous redundancy.

The only thing I currently appreciated it for was for the fact that it had at least been making all our elevator rides just a _little_ less awkward. We had run out of things to discuss after finishing the first one. And my refusal to spoil Anderson's surprise at all had both my party members eventually just give up on trying. Which then resulted in a long, harrowing, depressing silence.

I do hate to imagine what the last few rides would have been like had the hellish elevator tune been absent. Thankfully however, the elevators at least played the occasional news report over the intercom to spice things up now and then-

"In other news, the ever popular Citadel Club Flux was recently closed when a turf war erupted inside its premises between two unnamed gangs. The incident resulted in seven injured, with three reported dead by eye witnesses, though no bodies were officially reported by C-Sec. Captain Decian Chellick had this to say-"

So _that's_ why Anderson told us to meet him at Purgatory instead huh? I never did check on what happened to that place after I conked out did I. Could only hope those dead mentioned had been Broker agents-Hoh?

_Two_ gangs? That couldn't be right. Where did they get_ that_ number? Why would they think that-

"Did the news just mention that the club's name was Flux? Was that not the establishment we all visited together upon returning from Therum Shepard?"

"Yeah. It was."

Ah, it didn't matter. It was all over and done with.

"Then that is a shame to hear...while I cannot say that I was fond of its large crowds or loud music, I did enjoy the time we all spent there together."

"That had been a... memorable night, hadn't it?"

Oh yeah. It had been so long ago, I almost forgot-

"Yes. Against my expectations, I had quite a bit of...fun," she replied with a smile. "I hadn't been in a room with so many people for so long, I didn't think I would be able to enjoy myself. But after our server brought us those exotic drinks, and then after Shield had come off stage-"

I'm pretty sure my eyes widened as much as Shepard's as we both suddenly recalled the event in question at the same time.

"Oh my god."

"Mmmm, yup, that had been a crazy night hadn't it huh? Oh yeah! Hey Liara, did I ever mention that after you all left that Garrus and I actually-"

"I thought that had been a bad dream thanks to all those drinks I had," Shepard murmured, already looking my way, her face currently a combination of fear and disgust. "You're telling me that was real?!"

"Are you speaking of Shield's performance Commander? I believe Chief Ashley had sent me a recording if you wish to see-"

"Oh, I _knew_ it was her! That traitor-"

"You," Shepard began to seethe, "...you were one of them from the very start, weren't you?!"

I winced at the accusation and all the harsh implications she was now hurling in my direction.

"...it all makes sense. Following us around. What you just said in the...oh god. You are actually one of _those_ weirdos-"

And at that moment, the elevator came to a stop, gloriously opening its doors, letting the light of the Presidium shine in and for me to escape.

"-aren't you? Hell, I just met one of you people the other day. Conrad Verner. Name ring a bell?"

Aw, don't compare me to Conrad-

"Okay first, I said I _respect_ you Shepard. And who doesn't okay? You're the first Human Spectre _ever._ You're gonna have some fans. Get over yourself."

I began walking at a brisk pace toward the club as she continued to hound me, elevator music already faltering in the distance. For as soon as I was inside, the obnoxiously loud music of the club and Anderson would distract her from this. But...I also couldn't let her think I was some...fanboy or something by just dropping the topic too. Ohhhh, that would make things weird. And things were already _pretty_ weird.

Jeez, show someone your heart and _this _is how they repay you. I knew honesty was overrated.

"Fans?" she only retorted. "You people are all _obsessed_."

"Uh, you didn't let me finish. I was about to say, secondly, you must also be incredibly _narcissistic_ and/or _delusional_ if you think I'm even close to worshipping you like that loser does-"

"Oh, so you _do_ know him?"

Doh.

"...whaaa? Conrad whatshisface? Who's that? I've certainly never heard that name or met anyone like that before-"

"You're so horrible at lying it's almost laughable."

Well...I didn't. Face to face anyway. So technically, I'm kind of sort of telling the truth. So suck on that Shepard-

"Are you speaking about that man who stopped you in the Lower Wards for an autograph Comman-"

"Why the hell do you all feel the need to bury your noses into someone else's life so much?!"

"Shepard, I don't know what you even talkin' bout. I don't know what you're even saying. What _are_ you even saying Shepard?"

"I'm saying you're a member of one of those stomach-churning fan sites-"

"Woah. Woah! Now that's a _serious_ accusation Shepard. How dare you. No, how DARE you even lump me in with those people! I only visited one _once_. Recently."

To watch that video of the 'Shepard Song' circulating the extranet. And of course, I had instantly regretted it. Because-

"-it was sick. So sick. God it made me sick. Sickening tabloid journalism. I can't believe you'd even associate me with them. Or that guy Conrad whatshisface for that matter...sick!"

"I don't think that man's actions seemed particularly malicious when we spoke with him Shepard-"

Which caused the Commander to suddenly rear on T'Soni before launching her next verbal assault on me instead.

"Well Liara, you can't exactly say that about the man when you were guilty of the exact same thing yourself."

"Wha...I already told you Commander! I was just curious about you, and I did not want to embarrass myself again!"

"But you could have just asked me like any normal person instead of digging into my past and invading my privacy!"

"Woah, no need to lay on Liara, Commander. I thought you were angry with me here. She's not the one who's been asking for your autograph, or for your pictures, or to make them a Spectre-"

She wheeled right back around to me after I spoke.

Doh. Too much. I had said too much.

Then I realized I had stopped where I was.

Doh again. I immediately resumed power walking through the entrance of the club, continuing on before I was completely ensnared in her unavoidable crossfire.

* * *

Mass Effect 3 - Purgatory, OST fixed with bass boost (Play for that nostalgia and mood setting...or because I told you too. Have I ever steered you wrong yet?!)

* * *

"So you do know him then?! Is that what you all talk about at your...meetings? Those disturbing 'fan clubs'? To just get pictures and memorabilia of my likeness? Why can't you weirdos just-"

"No way," I could only bleat when it hit me, stopping dead in my tracks again, causing Shepard to almost run into me with her pursuit.

"What's your problem Shield?!"

And I slowly turned my face over my shoulder, eyes innocently peering back.

"You're not...embarrassed, are you Commander?"

The woman's own piercing green eyes caused me to die a little inside as they simply stared daggers back.

"What the hell are you talking about."

But I had to grin and fight through it. No matter the consequences.

"Oh my god...you totally are." I then tried to stifle the stupid smirk growing on my face but I just couldn't help it. It was too late for me. I was already dead where I stood. Might as well embrace it. And the indignant look she was currently making just gave me too much to work with. "You're just not used to getting so much attention, aren't you? You're-"

"What?! That's not it at all. It's just that all you weirdos and your obsessions with one person are just disturbing-"

"And that's the explanation behind those weird faces you were making back on the Normandy while I was complimenting you, wasn't it!? Because you were just embarrasssssed," I finished in a sing-song voice. Or as close as I could get to one.

But of course, the real reason for that had been because the entire conversation had been extremely awkward. I regretted everything that left my mouth despite it all working out in the end. Because _damn _had that been awkward. Every awkward word that had come out my awkward mouth had hurt my awkward-

"Shut up! You don't know what the hell you're talking about Shield!"

And then...I saw my opportunity to deal the death knell.

"Oh? Really? Cuz it kinda looks like I do. I mean...you should see how red your cheeks are right now Shepard. They're adorable. They look like teeny-weeny, bo-beeny, baby tomatoes. You're just not used to all the compliments and praise coming your way since becoming a Spectre of interstellar fame, are you?! Admit it!"

Like a dummy, even Liara now joined my ranting crusade.

"Is that true Shepard? Have you just been...embarrassed by all the attention you've been-"

"I am _NOT _embarrassed!"

"Shepard?"

And the smooth, creamy, chocolate voice of Keith David called out her name above the club's bumpin' music. Shepard immediately went rigid in response, slowly turning her head around toward where the voice had just come from. Classic Misdirection. Never fails. Say something stupid and people forget what you were even talking about in the first place. And she didn't even hurt me before we reached Anderson. Dare I say...mission accomplished?

"Captain. I-" And I think that was when Shepard first noticed all the others already gathered at the large booth. "...what's everyone doing here?"

Doctor Chakwas was the first to answer her.

"We're all here for _you_ Commander. If you still intend on pursuing Saren, you can be sure the rest of us will be standing right behind you when you do."

And in addition to Doctor Chakwas at the booth, there was Chief Engineer Adams, and Chief Navigator Pressly. Joker, Garrus, Tali and Wrex. The essential officers of the Normandy and its ground team all present. The guy had really come through when I asked him to get the word out.

"Captain?"

"I'm glad you came Shepard," Anderson deemed to answer her next. "I heard what happened. It was under-handed of them to do that to you."

"...it was just like when they forced you to give up the Normandy Captain. They pulled us off the mission and-"

"I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to warn you, but there was no way to get a message to you before you docked."

Shepard took the last open seat at the booth.

"Udina's gonna pay for what he did. I can promise you that-"

"I know you're pissed off right now Shepard, but we have bigger things to address than one back-stabbing politician. They all think this is over, but we both know it's not. You have to go to Ilos. _You_ have to stop Saren from using the Conduit."

Shepard frowned in response, placing an elbow on the table.

"There's only one ship that can get me into the Terminus Systems undetected, and she's currently grounded."

"That might not be for long," Adams replied with a smile.

Shepard eyed the man before returning her attention to Anderson.

"...Shield mentioned that you had a plan to get us out of here Captain."

Anderson only smiled in response.

"It's true that Citadel Control's locked out all the Normandy's systems. But with Shield and Garrus' verification, we know that if we override the ambassadors' orders, we _can_ get C-Sec to bring the Normandy back online. You can be in the Terminus Systems before anyone even knows you're gone."

"If we steal the Normandy, you're going to be the one left holding the bag Captain."

"And if Saren finds the Conduit, life as we know it is over," Anderson stated rather harshly. "The Reapers will destroy us. Humans, Asari, Turians, everybody! You're the only one who can stop him Shepard. So I'll do whatever it takes to get you all on the Normandy and off this station."

"But stealing the Normandy is mutiny. What if the crew won't help me?"

And one of the officers immediately took offense to that.

"This crew has sacrificed so much for you Shepard. But they're all willing to sacrifice even more if you simply ask it. Don't doubt that."

"Yeah, give us a little credit Commander," Joker quipped immediately after the Doctor. "We've come this far. Why stop now?"

"They're both right Shepard. The Normandy's your ship now. Her crew will follow you to the ends of the Galaxy. We all know that."

"Thank you," she replied quietly, glancing over most everyone present. "Thanks, all of you. I won't forget this. I promise."

And everyone present gave her the same in return, nodding their heads and shooting thumbs-up in response. Because this _was_ the team of the Normandy. Shepard's team. Anyone with an inkling of common sense would know they'd have her back no matter what.

"After some recent digging, I found out that you can free the Normandy from the Citadel Control Tower," Adams spoke up next.

"Huh-"

"Right, which means I can go in and unlock the Normandy from one of their consoles," Anderson followed up. "You'll have a few minutes before anyone realizes what's happened."

"Wait a sec-"

"I didn't realize you planned on going yourself when you asked," Garrus interrupted. "That's a restricted area patrolled by armed guards. How are you going to get in?"

"Don't forget, the Captain did use to be an N7," Pressly responded to Garrus.

"Still am Charles. So, leave that to me. Just make sure you're in the Normandy when the systems come back online."

"I thought you got my message Anderson," I eventually decided to blurt since stammering had done me no good.

"I did. But I wasn't sure if we could risk it. If it didn't work-"

"What's Shield talking about Captain? If there's another way, I want to hear it. I'm not fond of the idea of you walking into that place on your own," Shepard asked.

"Well _I_ proposed that Anderson pay a visit to Udina's office instead. He could just as easily reverse the lockdown from there," I deigned to answer her.

"Yes. Ambassador Udina was the one to issue the lockdown order. If I can hack into the computer in his office, _maybe_ we can override it. But that's not for sure."

"Even if it was, he's not gonna let you just walk in to his office and use his stuff," Wrex muttered from his lonely seat in the corner.

"Then hopefully he won't be there. If he is, I'll just have to think of something."

"I can't say that I'm too big a fan of that plan Captain. It's too risky," Adams replied.

"Stealing an Alliance ship is risky," Wrex retorted.

"There is a lot of things that could go wrong however," Tali added, receiving a thankful glance from Adams in the process. "If Udina's computer can't override the lockdown-"

But I knew better than either of them. Any of them.

"It will work. I guarantee you can override it from his office," I immediately refuted.

While I don't know if it really mattered...I still couldn't-

"But Udina would never let that slide Captain. If you do that, you'll be charged with treason," Joker pointed out with a fair amount of concern. "And I don't think I'll be able to cover for you this time."

The Captain smiled for all of a blink before returning to look at Shepard sternly.

"We don't have a lot of options. I either break into the ambassador's computer, or I take my chances with the patrols in Citadel control-"

"If it helps you reach a decision, know that you'll have my support too Captain."

"What?"

Because yeah...I couldn't leave up to chance. I would make sure the Normandy got out regardless of what happens. Because it's something that had to happen. Not matter what. So it was my _duty_ to make sure it happened.

"I've made up my mind that I'm not going to Ilos Shepard. There's a lot more I can do to help with my...contacts here in case Saren or his Geth attack. So I might as well help the good Captain while I'm at it."

And it's not like I could convince them a trip to Ilos would just bring them back here in the first place. That'd be stupid. And even if they did believe me, that'd be even stupider, because they would never learn about the previous invasion or meet Vigil who gives them a macguffin to overcoming Sovereign's control over the Citadel. No...they had to go to Ilos. Just like I had to stay here.

"You really think that Saren and his Geth will attack the Citadel directly?" Garrus asked me, incredibly skeptic.

"Well you really can never be too sure Garrus. Better safe than sorry is my new motto."

"...fine," Shepard curtly answered before refocusing her efforts on the Captain.

Was she sad my company wouldn't be present on the ship? Probably not. Was she disappointed that I wouldn't join them for their final mission? Laughable prospect. Was she perhaps a little less concerned however, thankful even, knowing that Anderson would now have help in doing this incredibly risky stint?

Who could say.

"It's your choice Captain."

And after a quick moment of introspection, he-

"I'll break into the Ambassadors' office," Anderson replied to Shepard. Then the man uncharacteristically chuckled. "He made this personal. I'm actually looking forward to it...You ready to get the hell of this station Commander?"

And it took her no time to respond at all, as said Commander had already made her mind up from the very beginning.

"Let's do it."

A couple members of our entourage got rowdy once she gave her answer, matching the atmosphere of the club around them.

"Then Shield and I will take care of the lockdown. You just get everyone else down to the Normandy Shepard! Joker, prepare to stand by for my signal."

"Aye, aye Captain!"

"Stealing the Normandy...crazy," Adams muttered in his seat as everyone began to rise.

"Sometimes crazy is the best way to go," Wrex grunted back. "I just hope they don't catch us before we get our hands on Saren."

"They won't," Shepard immediately shot back.

"I hope you're right. Hate for things to end so soon," the Krogan grinned.

"This will all be over soon. One way or another," Liara whispered lightly beside me.

And she was right. One way or another.

Things would end.

Though not right now of course, as I still had things to do.

Shepard had already seen half the team out the club before beginning to follow them, nodding to the Captain as she did. But-

"Hey Shepard."

She stopped to turn.

"What?"

And I realized I couldn't. I had to laugh as I decided to back out at the last second.

"Nevermind. I'll tell you when you get back."

Her look of curiosity was immediately replaced by one of annoyance. But in spite of it however...

"...good luck."

And then that annoyance turned into something else...though I couldn't place what.

"...you too."

And the Commander then followed the rest of the Normandy's officers out after that. And as I had hoped, Anderson simply remained seated, taking another sip from his glass before turning to where I stood.

"Thanks again for messaging me. I wasn't sure if we could pull this off, so seeing someone else with the same idea was just what I needed to push me to it."

"Hey, no problem Cap. Like I said, I'm here to help."

"Glad to hear," Anderson replied, finally finishing off the drink he had been entertaining. "We'll give them an hour. That should be enough time for them to get the crew back onboard before we get to Udina's office."

"Sounds good to me."

"Now, I believe you also mentioned in your message that you wanted to talk about something else?"

"Oh yeah. I did, didn't I? Yes." I decided to take a now open seat across from him. "Alright. So. I already mentioned I was going to prepare, in case Saren and his Geth attacked right?"

"I believe you did."

"Okay. Good...good. Sooooo...yeah. Alright. Basically, I was just wondering if I could also ask a favor of you. To help us prepare for them."

"It depends on the favor. Though I agree with Vakarian that a frontal assault is highly unlikely, I did recommend nearby outposts to already be on alert. For you're right, being generally over-prepared is better than being caught with your pants down."

"Right! Which is why I was wondering if you might be willing to give me access to an Alliance depot or something that might have military grade gear I could..._borrow_?"

Anderson's semi-stern face immediately became grave.

"So you really _were _discharged from the Alliance then."

Which then had me at a total loss.

"...what?"

"I haven't had the chance to ask until now but...how long were you planning on hiding your identity Leonov? Were you ever going to tell us at all?"

"What the fuck." I then had to refrain from face-palming once realized I had just said that out loud. "...h-how long have you have known about that Anderson?"

"A while now," Anderson responded plainly. "I thought you had looked familiar when we first picked you up on Eden Prime. I knew that you were definitely Alliance. But it was only after a report from the SSV Somme came across my desk, mentioning the circumstances of a Corporal Toombs that I finally realized who."

Oh heck. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this. Leonov was dead and gone. I didn't want to know _anything_ about his past. It'd just make me guilty about stealing his body and like I owed him something. Gosh darnnit-

"And after some digging, I finally found your file. Lieutenant Commander Alexei Leonov. Born on Earth. An N7 marine-"

Oh shit, N7?!

"-honorable discharge in 2177-"

No, FOCUS-

"Captain, did you mention any of this to Shepard? Or anyone else for that matter?"

Like Petrovsky-

"I thought about it after Shepard told me she removed you from the Normandy. When you had tried to interfere with her mission. But I believed that you still hadn't given us your real identity for good reason. That your discharge and death-"

Death?! Oh dammit!

"-might have just been a cover for being recruited by the AIS. Deep cover. And I didn't want to blow it in case we _had_ to be left in the dark for it to be maintained."

"...thank you for that Captain, I appreciate-"

"But after asking around in Intelligence, they couldn't give me anything. _Weren't_ able to give me anything. You no longer existed. And now you just said that you didn't have clearance to the Alliance's Embassy depots, which any commissioned officer should have. So I want you to be honest with me Alexei. Who, or what, are you exactly involved with?"

...welp. Guess this would be as good a time as any.

"...have you ever heard of Project Trapdoor Captain? ...Wait. Actually, I think it was named Project Sidedoor...no...Backdoor? Project Doorway? Door- ah, it doesn't matter. Anyway, long story short-"

And I then preceded to give the quick version of events to Captain Anderson. Which was more or less exactly just what Petrovsky had told me several days ago. I mean, it was pretty much just the same story, word for word. So, it's not like anyone really needs the transcript for it or anything. I mean, it would just be an unnecessary paragraph of exposition containing information already known. The dialogue would probably just be copy and paste of the one I had with the General at Flux exactly. So I'll just fast forward to the end. Because who needs all those ancillary lines to read anyway? It would just be taxing on your eyes. It's taxing just to think about it. Real taxing. Hell, I'm already tired just writing about it. So I'll spare you all the extra reading and just skip straight to the end of it already. About-

Right now.

Yup. Right after this line.

Oh wait, sorry, almost forgot to mention one other thing to Anderson.

Wait-

No, yes.

This is the last one for sure.

After this one.

"-and that's the skinny."

You're welcome for skipping all the boring parts. Probably would have just been mind-numbingly dull to read-

"...that's quite the story Alexei."

Oh right, sorry. Back to the present.

"Shield, Captain. It's Shield now. That other guy is good and gone. And I know it's a lot to take in, a little strange and-"

"I've heard and seen some strange things in my day Shield believe me, Reapers currently at the top of my list. But your tale still comes pretty close. And if it's true, that still doesn't explain where you've been getting your intel from, nor how you ended up on Eden Prime since you lost your memories."

And that was the million-credit question Anderson. Where ARE they from? And...hm.

"Well if you really want to know why Anderson...you really want the truth...haha...it's because I know the future. I already know every single thing that will happen from now up until 2186. Because this world around us is literally a work of fiction."

"..."

"Yup. It's true. Dead serious. Saren attacking Eden Prime, Shepard becoming a Spectre, Conduit on Ilos, already knew it was all coming. I can even tell you that Sovereign's going to attack the Citadel in a couple hours, Cerberus brings Shepard back to life after she's killed by the Collectors a month from after we beat Saren, and then the Reapers attack Earth itself in-"

"Uh huh, and who wins SuperBowl CCXIX again? I haven't placed my bets yet so if you could tell me the final score, it'd be greatly appreciated." Anderson leaned across the table. "I'm serious Shield. This isn't a game. Who are you-"

I decided to sigh, throwing my hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright, the reason I made up the cover about the Shadow Broker is because I think my memory box somehow has access to files from his servers. Couldn't tell you how or why but it's the best explanation I got for why things just randomly pop into my head when they're mentioned. And why his goons tried to grab me in Flux a couple days ago-"

"That incident was because of you!?"

"Hah, probably."

Anderson pinched his nose. "...I really liked that place."

"Sorry."

Dude did love his bars and drinks apparently.

"...Alright." Anderson suddenly put his hands down on the table and shot up out of his seat. "I believe you Shield. Or...I believe that we're at least both intent on stopping Saren. If you need Alliance munitions for whatever you need to do, I can get you some before we head to Udina's-"

"Thank you, Anderson! Thank you! You don't how many lives you just saved."

"You're welcome, but there's no need for the exaggeration."

Hoho, you don't even know bud.

"What do you need?" he continued.

And I immediately pulled up the list on my omni-tool, deciding he would find out himself how wrong he was later.

"Alright, if you're serious...I'll need a sniper rifle, tungsten mods, kinetic buffer, some grenades, Ashley used to say Mark 14's were the best so grab those if possible, shield battery, proton rounds, oh, and the proton rounds are for the sniper rifle by the way, so they should probably go into it before- so a sniper rifle with proton rounds, scratch the other two- security cordon, missile launcher, remote detonator, finger, shield generator, and a HELLA amount of proximity mines. Though I think the Mark 14's can double as those too, and the detonator is for the mines, so I guess you can also lump them all together-"

"..."

"Oh, and I almost forgot. Think you could call up a Human in C-Sec to Udina's office by the time we visit? I'm gonna need one of their uniforms."

"..."

"..."

*chirp*

"..."

"..."

Ehhhh, maybe I did go a little overboard. I didn't even know how I'd carry half that crap around-

"I can get you the Mark-14's and armor upgrades."

"Awesome."

I can get the rest thru the second phase of the plan-

"And what size are you?"

A smile slowly crept across my face as he raised his brow.

Nothing would stop me now.

"My size? Big, Anderson. As in, too big to fail."

_YEEEEAAAAAAAA-_

* * *

"-aaah, I don't think pacing back and forth will make them work any faster Commander. They'll come through."

"But they should have gotten there by now. What's taking them so long?"

Joker turned back to the Normandy's controls once Shepard begun to walk back over. But just like the check he had done two seconds ago, the giant, honkin', red circle on it was still there, being their main clue that the ship was still being kept offline. And though he had said otherwise...he was beginning to fear that something happened to them too.

He glanced up at the woman hovering over his shoulder, whose eyes were currently affixed to the ship's controls. Because maybe she was right. They had been just one short skycar ride away, what could-

A chirp suddenly filled the air, and Joker immediately snapped his neck back down to see the console now green lit. Which indicated they were good to go. He could already hear the magnetic anchors outside hissing as they released the Normandy from the dock.

"Let's go!" Shepard took no time in advising. "Get us out of here Joker. Now!"

But he didn't need her to tell him that. With a grin, the Normandy's ace pilot was already spurring the ship to action. Adam reported engines were firing up, thrusters were engaged, Rosie already running a diagnostic on all nominal-

He flicked on the rest of the Normandy's primary systems with her report that everything was clear.

They were all set to launch.

The Normandy pulled out from the dock before its techs even knew what was happening, and Joker whipped the ship around so that the bridge now stared straight ahead, into the dark violet skies of the Serpent Nebula before them. He then realized the Normandy still needed a little tuning with the oomph he just felt from the start of the engines. But with him at its helm, it didn't really matter. The Geth wouldn't know what hit them.

The Normandy's thrusters ignited, shooting them away from the space station at light speed, spurring them onward. Onward toward the Widow Relay.

The Hunt for Saren was back on.

* * *

As we strut into the office, it was_ definitely_ on.

"Anderson? What are you doing here? Did you send for this-"

WHAM.

"Holy shit-" Harkin let out with a laugh as Udina was immediately knocked the fuck out. Of course, probably wasn't the best time for him to be distracted. "Why the hell did you just-"

"Shoryuken!"

The crooked cop immediately found himself flying backwards as my leaping uppercut connected with his jaw. A sickening crack accompanied the blow, and I had to wince at how bad I had just gotten him. The white casing on his jaw led me to believe that would be a super effective place to hit. But it probably also meant that I had just undone a several thousand-credit surgery. But you know...it was just Harkin. So...whatever.

"It's done!" Anderson shouted as he finished the last keystroke.

"Hopefully they're already taking off," I immediately replied, already taking off my shirt.

"...you aren't changing here are you?" Anderson commented as I took off my pants next.

"Well I can't really drag him into a changing room now, can I," I replied, already moving on to undress the unconscious cop.

"Are you sure you don't want my help with whatever you're planning to do Shield?"

"For the umpteenth time Captain, my plan is foolproof. Nothing's getting in my way. You should focus instead on organizing the Alliance garrison stationed here. Make sure they can mobilize at the drop of a hat. We have to be ready. Just in case."

I hastily shoved the man now in tidy widy's into the locker adjacent to the one holding Udina, pausing to grab his transparent omni-tool from his hand and toss it to the floor. Didn't want him waking up and escaping too soon. Needed time to make my move-

"Shield, while I like the idea, I don't exactly have the clearance to send those kinds of commands."

"What?" I had to ask, spinning back around. "But I thought you were a Captain-"

"They're higher ranked officers stationed here than just me. It'd take a long time to go through the proper channels required-"

"What about that one," I said, motioning to the channel still open on Udina's still available computer.

He glanced at it for a moment, then back to me.

"Good catch."

"You already said you recommended the Alliance to be on high alert right?"

"I'm not sure if they took it seriously-"

"Well I'm pretty sure C-Sec is at least on high alert, what with that fleet blockade of theirs going on and all. But it can't hurt knocking things up a notch. Take their readiness levels just a _tad_ further-"

"I'm already working on it Shield, don't worry. But what are you going to do?"

I finished pulling up Harkin's pants, and though the uniform was still a little loose, I found it was just what I needed. A disguise that would put even Izzy Einstein to shame.

"Me?" I let out a victorious laugh, planning to instill confidence in him as well as myself. "I'm going to show C-Sec how you _really_ protect the Citadel." And after uttering that totally awesome line, I then proceeded to steer the levitating dolly out of the embassy office and on towards its destiny. A dolly that was currently stacked sky high with crates chock full of dangerous, temperamental, volatile, explosives. "Everything's going according to plan this time Anderson. This is our last mission. Nothing's screwing this up for us-"

* * *

"-now. We might be headed for the Terminus Systems but don't worry ma'am. The Normandy's a hell of a ship. She'll get us through this Commander."

"Thank you for the report Adams. Carry on."

And as the call from engineering ended, Pressly was at her side, handing her a copy of the navigation route he had already sent Joker.

"I still can't believe we stole the Normandy Commander! I know we'll all be court-martialed if this doesn't work out. But part of me loves this!"

"Just be sure you don't go making a habit of it after we stop Saren, Pressly."

"Hah, I wouldn't dare. Not with you onboard Commander."

And her XO peeled off as she continued through the CIC and approached the Normandy's bow. With the ship currently in FTL, Joker apparently had little to keep him occupied. The pilot noticed her approach as soon as she had set foot upon the bridge.

"Lucky us Commander. No sign of pursuit. I was kind of hoping though that the Council would send some ships after us. I was looking forward to putting the Normandy through her paces. The Geth patrols we've run into so far have all maneuvered about as well as the Mako does. I figured I'd finally get to see what this ship can really do."

"We're not playing tag Joker. If they catch us, Saren wins. And we're all dead."

"I bet you're just the life of the party Commander."

Shepard scowled at him in response and began him to tell him to open the comms before she was interrupted.

"Oh, that just reminded me of your joke! Why don't you tell the Commander it!" Ensign Draven suddenly spoke up from behind them.

"What joke."

"That one about the Mako!"

The pilot immediately swiveled his chair back around to face the console.

"I'm sure the Commander has better things to do. She didn't come up here to humor herself. Hell, she doesn't even have time to. We'll be at Ilos in half an hour-"

"No please, do tell Joker. A joke just might improve my mood. And mission morale."

She was too curious at this point to let it go, especially if it was about her. The man was already on thin ice.

"Sorry, don't remember. When everything that leaves your mouth is comedy gold you-"

"I think it went something like 'what do you call someone who can't drive a Mako'?"

"..."

"...what?"

"Commander!"

"...hilarious."

Joker looked down at the Normandy's controls and began clicking buttons as Shepard turned to glare at him. His words were nothing but treason. She'd have to punish him accordingly. A small square turned green in the left uppermost corner shortly after he finished.

"Uh, intercom's open Commander, just like you were asking. If you've got anything you want to say to the crew, now's the time."

But it'd have to be later. Because the man had been right. She needed to focus on the mission. The crew had risked their careers for her, would soon risk their lives for her...so she owed them one last overture. To help them remember why she would ask this of them at all.

She took a deep breath, and then leaned over Joker's shoulder, speaking calmly into the console.

"Normandy, this is your Commander speaking. Now, the Council wants to ignore this. They never helped us in the past; no reason they'd start now. But we as we've already seen, we don't need their help. We can do this on our own! We'll save their asses whether they want us to or not. Saren must be stopped. It's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the Galaxy. It's time to show them, and everyone else, what exactly Humans are made of!"

And the whoops and cheers of the Normandy reassured her that everything would be alright. This really was her crew. They'd follow her to the ends of the Galaxy and back. And they'd be the ones to stop Saren this day.

Everything would end on Ilos.

The Hunt for Saren would end here.

* * *

It would definitely all end here.

For Saren anyway. You could bet on it.

I tossed the next one rather harshly, banking it off the corner of the glass walkway before it stuck where it landed.

"This is the stopping Saren song ~

You there, stop and sing along ~

Is he gonna win, I say no ~

Gonna tell Saren he's a hoe ~ "

I chucked another Frisbee across the walkway as I sang. Baller tunes really do take the edge off while you're hard at work, let me tell you. I bent over and dug around in the crate for a couple more. Drop one here, drop one there, make sure they're on before you drop another mine with care-

"Cuz his Geth don't scare me, they just make me hor-ny ~

Aliens come for dat control key, I'll shoot em like Sigour-ney ~

Brrap brrap, pew pew-"

"What are you doing?"

"-Ahem. Uh, sorry ma'am, but this is a dangerous area. I'm gonna need you need to clear out-"

I stopped where I was upon looking over my shoulder, as I found a C-Sec officer currently ducking under the security cordon, obviously the one who had spoken just now.

Balls. I immediately let the Mark-14's in my hand clatter to the floor.

"We've had reports of the Monument Promenade being cleared and roped off without authorization. What are you doing officer-"

And I believe the Turian's eyes went wide around the same time she realized that a majority of the discs laying about the walkway were actually military-grade explosives.

"Oh. Hey...HEY! Do you see this shit?! I think-"

"Freeze where you are!" she immediately shouted, pulling her gun. Then with the omni-tool on her free hand, she yelled for back up, giving her coordinates in the process. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

"Look fellow officer of the law, everything's fine, everything's under control here, we just need to stay calm. Now, good job calling HQ but-"

"No patrols are listed in the area jackass. I know you're not with C-Sec! Put your hands in the air and don't move a muscle!"

"Uh, you didn't let me finish. I was _saying_ good job calling HQ, but they already got reports of a terrorist threat and I, who am a freelance investigator, obviously, was deployed to scan the area with these-"

"I said DON'T MOVE!"

I backed off from the opened crate on the dolly beside me. But it was so tempting. I wasn't even halfway thru it yet-

"Okay, I know things might _look_ bad, but they're _definitely_ not what you think they are-"

Then shouts distracted us.

And several civilians on a walkway in the distance began flashing photos, realizing an armed officer was actually on the scene apprehending a criminal. And that distraction was exactly the thing I needed. As she glanced at the tourists out of the corner of her eye, I snatched the fail-safe detonator lying on the crate's lid before she could blink.

"YOU-"

"Okay, so you're right, you got me, they _are_ explosives. But if you shoot now, uh...this whole place is kind of going to become a crater soooo...let's not do that shall we. Let's all just calm down-"

"I need special response now," she yelled into her 'tool. "We have a Code 4-5-8!"

No Bueno. This was no bueno at all.

"Look, there's about to be an attack on the Citadel and-"

"What? You already are?!"

"Are...are you talking to me?"

"Don't worry about me! Just do it!"

"...wha-"

"I said do it!"

I then realized I had definitely screwed the pooch as I felt something suddenly penetrate my arm, and doubly so as an electrical current ran through my body from the entry point, paralyzing me, locking every muscle of mine in place.

"Bring in the bomb unit! And get me a squad car!"

And a second later, as it had me dropping unconscious to the floor, face definitely smacking against a primed mine once gravity took effect, in the last vestiges of consciousness I had left, I could only think one thing.

I should have asked Garrus for C-Sec procedure. DOH.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**The Toombs Debriefing**

/16:54/ Secure Comm Buoy #8475-24 / Encrypted / #2654 - BM - 880

Forward From: Networker Nesk

Original Sender: Agent Cross

Third report on my monitoring of the situation Operative Caracosa has taken to calling the 'Toombs Vendetta'.

Upon the SSV Somme's arrival at Arcturus Station, Corporal Colin Toombs was immediately transferred to the Alliance Intelligence Service for debrief. Supervisor on scene Farrah Gapoli was in charge of the investigation. Upon interrogation, Toombs attributed the last six years of his absence to [Cerberus], and being held captive in a station named [The Depot] located in the Gorgon System. He details his escape, citing it started when every containment cell of the structure was suddenly opened, and how he escaped on an unattended supply ship left in the hangar. Captain Gapoli was incredulous, expressing jealously of how Toombs' luck was so good. Toombs took resentment, citing Akuze and torture as evidence contrary.

Cross referencing with an [Agent Revenant]'s report and entry 89-DBZ545428-89, the Rachni reportedly found on Nepheron and Altahe were not remnants of the Rachni War as speculated, but rather escaped specimens from [The Depot] recently scuttled by the [SSV Normandy]. The Rachni themselves were what caused Toombs cell malfunction during their own escape from the vessel. And with information scoured from entry 34-2d23f248-52, I've determined [Cerberus] received these specimens from their [Project Orthus] Outpost on Binthu, which in turn were imported from [Peak 15], a facility administered by Binary Helix on Noveria. This should settle that the origin of the Rachni encountered there were indeed from Noveria, and not an unknown brood as feared.

Continuing the interrogation, upon asking why the corporal murdered several Alliance scientists, Toombs denied doing so. Doctor Wayne was the first he planned to assassinate, and the only one he currently remembered. After the shuttle was hijacked, Toombs searched for where Doctor Wayne was currently stationed and then headed straight there. Then Toombs implied that if the dead doctors were [Cerberus] like Doctor Wayne, they deserved death regardless. Toombs was then asked if there were any other survivors from Akuze he thought were perhaps being held captive by [Cerberus]. Toombs then became adamant that at least former Commander Alexei Leonov was alive and well. After running a check on the name, the handlers present confirmed Alexei Leonov was Toomb's unit Commander on Akuze, and honorably discharged in 2177 after psychological evaluation found him unfit for duty. He was then found dead in 2178, cause of death: suicide. After hearing this, Corporal Toombs remained adamant he was alive and stationed on the [SSV Normandy]. Handlers present confirmed no such man was listed on the ship's registrar. Toombs was escorted away once he refused to drop the subject or address anything else.

**This report had enough key terms you were on the look out for Gellix that I decided to forward it to you. Hope it helps in your investigation.**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

"Shield's the worst OC I've ever seen. He's soooo stupid!" "How stupid is he Dan?" "Shield's so stupid, when someone asked him to get a vehicle, he brought them a Justicar-"

Shut up Dan! You don't even know what you're talking about. You don't know the trials and tribulations he's gone through. How much pain he's endured. How many things have been thrown his way that you'd have to be omniscient to see coming. You wouldn't last five minutes in his shoes! So who cares if he has the brain the size of a Vorcha?! Just don't listen to them my poor OC, who is an innocent soul that will inevitably save the Galaxy. I know being caught was all part of your plan. Forget the haters. They're all Hanar. They're all just jelly.

And how is being caught part of the plan you may ask? Probably by allowing him to finally do something super DRAMATIC. Or not. Guess we'll find out in the coming chapter~

Also, this story has 300 followers?

:]

Act 4: The Finale, begins now folks. Hold on to your butts.

But before it begins-

**Review Time!**

0 ad infinitude - You got good art skills man. That's a real dope stache you drew there. And making my likeness eerily beautiful was an apt move. It's almost like looking in a mirror every time I see it. And as for ME2, I'll try to avert that by telling all you redshirts that I'll subvert Shepard's just dessert with an invert schemed up by an extrovert that may or may not hurt but reassert the notion that I like to divert from any spoiler alert. And as the explanation for Shield's meta-knowledge? Uh, I think you'll learn that NEVER!

Dekugram - Implying Shield learned anything on his journey at all. Laughable. Also, *jerk. Lern 2 sp3ll n0ob.

Birthplace of Branan - It was such an obscure reference that I thought there was no way that's what you were going for. But as a Dragon Age aficionado, alas, I could not ignore it. Color me impressed that's what it actual referred to haha! Don't have much else to comment on since you're analysis on Shield always speaks for itself, and that I am largely of the same opinion. And as much as people may disagree, I really do find Ashley and Kaidan fascinating characters. It's criminal to have one die just because arbitrary plot points demand it. Shield is a spanner in the works, a fighter of fate, his every decision saving characters from their horrible scripted demises. Ashley won't be different! Probably. Eh. 50/50.

It's Always Sunny on the Citadel - I did good?! Kewl beans. Always wary of Joker and Shepard POVs because I'm afraid they'll just read like 'this happened. and then this happened. oh, and that happened too. the end.' Nice to know that it at least kinda eschewed his character. And yeah, I always thought it kind of obvious. I mean think about it. Those love interests are all in the middle of nowhere with a Commander they barely even know, they look around from the Normandy window and what do they see? Nothing but open space. 'Ahhh, there's nowhere for me to take the Mako. What am I going to do, say no?' I mean, obviously, if they say no, then the answer is obviously no haha. But the thing is they aren't gonna say no. They would never say no. Because of the _implication_.

Toothless is Best - Uh, Shepard is a Professional Alliance Officer and gonna act like it, unlike all those other posers out there. I mean, what kind of boat captain just bangs random officers and aliens under their command before a galaxy-altering mission? That's just plain _irresponsible_. The only thing you can be sure she's gonna bang is Geth against the walls of Ilos with her telekinetic powers. Hm. Damn you poorly phrased sentencesssss-

King of Rock and Jukeboxs 23 - And thanks again for the feedback :). Like I already said, I'm a big fan of Ashley too despite _those other people _who make her out to be a judgmental racist. Girl disagrees with the Terra Firma party, gets mad when Shepard is with Cerberus, and everything she ever said about aliens became true when the Reapers arrived. So she was pragmatic, not speciest. Get it straight. Of course, is she still alive? ...not even Schrodinger knows.

That's so Ravenous - Uh, I think it can. AND WILL. WATCH ME ABANDON THIS STORY FASTER THAN AETHYTA ABANDONED HER INFANT DAUGHTER WITH ONLY THREE CHAPTERS TO SPARE! WATCH ME-

* * *

**In the next chapter: Google [Mass Effect 1 - Transcend] for Next Chapter Hype. The Conclusion Comes.**

**Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


	45. Justifying the Journey to Jail

"Ungh."

My daily morning routine. Muttering, wincing as my conscious began to wake, grimacing at the fact that I was cruelly being dragged away from my deep slumber. Ripped from the warmth of my covers. The last bastion of pleasure a man had before one's droll morning routine followed. The most awful feeling in the world really. And as I awoke this time-

Oh SHIT, I'm in jail.

With my last memory already at the fore of my mind, I immediately propped myself upright, before quickly finding myself physically unable to. In a quite familiar fashion, my arms and legs were currently locked in place to a chair. Though this chair was slightly more reclined than the last one I was bound in, and about twice as comfortable. A marked improvement surely. And then, as if they had been waiting for this exact moment to occur, the door to the dark lit room was suddenly opened. A lone Turian detective with robin blue tattoos on his mandibles and chin lazily sauntered in, and after seeing his face, I immediately relaxed, realizing things weren't as bad as they could be-

"Woah, hey Chellick! Long time no see man!"

"What...we've done this before have we? Already counting down the days until the next time you got to visit the Academy huh?"

-I had thought.

"...you don't recognize me?"

"I apologize. A lot of perps pass through here every day. To be frank, it's hard to keep track of all the ward rats I meet. Now-"

"What?! No dude, it's me! Shield! I helped you get those weapon mods remember!"

"..."

"From that Krogan Jax? So you could take Jenna off the case? With Garrus Vakarian, that one night at Flux? Remember?"

"...oh shit-"

The Turian immediately clicked something on his omni-tool, thrusting his claw away from the wall, apparently signaling to someone behind it. And that had me impressed. A one-way glass _wall_ huh? That was pretty genius. C-Sec really was next level.

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

I snapped back to the angered Turian above me.

"Oh, well, uh...before this? I was kind of just minding my own business. Right up until some of your coworkers accosted my person. For no reason I might add. And then dragged me here against my will, and I'm pretty sure I've been unconscious-"

"You know damn well what I meant." He glanced at the wall, baring his fangs, before looking back down, hissing the next words that left his mouth. "You're being charged on several acts of terrorism and of impersonating an officer. Your equipment has been taken down to evidence. The Alliance already denies any affiliation with you, and of giving you any of the hardware we confiscated. And after checking the serial numbers on the explosives, they told us that they were all requisitioned by one Captain David Anderson several hours ago, who they're already attempting to track down, so don't try to go down that route either."

"...okay. That's real nice of you to tell me all that-"

"I'm only telling you all this because you're a friend of Garrus, and because I know Garrus wouldn't associate with a terrorist of any degree. So help me, help you Shield. In your best effort, attempt to explain to me what in spirit's name you were doing on the Presidium."

Well...he apparently didn't know said Turian very well since Garrus did just that with Cerberus in ME2... but I don't think disputing that presumption would really help my case here. And now that I found out he was batting for the right team, I decided to pitch him a straight one. Hit him with some knowledge.

"Alright Chellick...Saren is going to attack the Citadel any moment now, it's only a matter of time. And he's gonna do it on two fronts. A fleet of Geth ships are gonna come through the Widow Relay and attack the Citadel fleet while he assaults the Presidium himself with a ground army at his back."

"What?"

"Oh, right, I should probably explain this first. So, Commander Shepard, the Human Spectre, recently discovered that the Relay Monument on the Presidium is an _actual_ mass relay, and that Saren's gonna use its twin on Ilos to bypass all Citadel defenses and attack-"

"That's why you were setting those explosives in the promenade? In front of the Monument? To stop his attack?"

"Yeah, that's right! Blast that bastard and his Geth to kingdom come as soon as they come through it. Ingenious, right?"

"...what happened to you Shield?"

"...you don't believe any of this do you."

"Hah, why would I? You're insane," he immediately scoffed.

Oh geez. So maybe I assumed wrong afterall. Darn.

"Yeah, okay, alright. You don't have me to believe me right now Chellick," I decided to reply. "I don't exactly know his time table, because I don't know how long I was out...but I can promise you it's going to happen any second. And when it does, I want you to come right back here and free me, because I'm the only goddamn person on this goddamn space station who can tell you where that _goddamned_ Turian will be headed once he's invading with his army of walking lamps, and the only goddamn person who can help you stop him."

And while letting me finish my tirade, Chellick had already put some distance between us and was now putting a claw to his face, muttering to himself. Then the Turian quickly brought his omni-tool back online, clicked something, and proceeded to speak into it.

"Alright, relay to Special Response that the incident wasn't a malicious act of terror. The suspect's just mentally unhinged. Yes, call Doctor R'saye. I want it in writing. And transfer him to an empty cell until Lamont and the rest of his team get here."

Mentally unhinged? I might have believed that statement a couple weeks ago. And if a Human officer had been the one to say it instead of an alien. But I was in too deep at this point. Like I'd even accept that now. Mentally unhinged? Hah. As if.

I let out a laugh that caused the detective to look at me sadly.

But whether he believed me or not didn't matter. I was in C-Sec just like I wanted. Just not HOW I wanted. But technically, the point was moot, as I was still exactly where I wanted regardless. The plan was still on course. I just had to-

"Get him out of here."

-wait I suppose. And hope that they hadn't disarmed all those mines already. I mean there was only eight but you can't be too careful with those things. Ashley had also mentioned they were pretty finicky. Tended to explode if you looked at them funny. Oh right. I couldn't help but cringe as I remembered my skull banging into one when I clonked out. But anyway, if they HAD already defused them all...basically, I would be right back at square one. Except now I was locked in jail and unable to do anything about it. Soooo...this probably wasn't a highlight of my adventure. No, yeah, probably a low.

Chellick paid little attention to the two officers who now entered the room as he continued to speak into his 'tool. In a seamless transition, they undid my restraints, hoisted me out of my seat and were done omni-cuffing my hands before I could shout 'Sovereign's going to kill us all!', and then led me out the of the room. We went through some corridors, passed a couple turns, walked by some irritable Hanar preaching for free speech, and eventually, my escorts reached a quite solitary indentation in the wall.

They then pushed me inside, rather harshly I must say, and once I turned back around to face them, I found a glass wall already in place, separating me from them. And without another word, they left, failing to even give me a single goodbye in the process. I mean, you would have thought we were on Noveria with how cold they were. But you know what, if this _was_ an all-time low for me, that means the only direction I could go from here is up!

_Or down. There's always down you idiot._

But mostly up.

Yeah, that's the spirit.

Anyway, with a pathetic sigh, I decided to take a seat on the stark white nondescript shape jutting out from the cell's wall. And with time a plenty, decided to go over whether my plan had been the right move after all. Just as a thinking exercise for the future of course, as it was too late to do anything about it now. Though I just want to be clear, I could escape at any time. Probably. They had let me keep my omni-tool after all. Didn't realize it's destructive power I suppose. The fools. And they _had_ let me keep on Harkin's uniform strangely enough. Probably just didn't want to undress me themselves. Could probably come up with some totally sick escape plan if I _really _wanted to...Yup. Totally could. If I wanted.

But like I was saying before...the plan. Right. As a rando, I wasn't allowed within a kilometer of the Citadel Tower. Avina had said it practically takes half a year for the little people to be able to just visit for a day. Let alone bring in a kiloton of ordinance with them. So couldn't stake out for Saren there. And the only people that would even believe my story and attempt to help were half way across the Galaxy. And even they were fugitive crackpots people refused to listen to too.

So, this really was the best I could come up with on short notice. Take precautionary measures, get some equipment loaned, scatter those mines around the Conduit, report them in, pretend I'm C-Sec, and then get into the Academy and grab the rest of the supplies that I hadn't gotten from Anderson once inside. Though the 'mining' part hadn't gone exactly as planned, at least I was here.

Now, I just needed to sit around until Saren made his big debut.

And hope I still had time to spare once-

A siren went off inside my cell. Throughout the corridor. Throughout the academy. Throughout the entire Presidium. It was loud. The blare of the horn pervaded my ears, my body becoming rigid as it registered it, and I came to realize that the alarm's purpose was unmistakable. But it had all happened quicker than I thought. Too quick. Ten seconds? Ten minutes? How long? How long had it gone on before the next part? Before the chaos? There had been the ruckus. Commotion outside my cell. Yelling. Yelps. Firing. How close had it gotten? How fast had it happened? How-

Red. The floor was red. The cell was red. Everything in eyesight was red. Red light was everywhere. Had life support been cut out just now? Was this emergency power coming back on? Everything had gone dark for just an instant before...and what had happened to the fire fight? How did it grow quiet so suddenly? Where were all the shouts from earlier? All the noise-

I fiercely pounded on the glass but no one came. I yelled and still...no one came. Then I panicked. I threw my omniblade against the glass barricade like a hammer, pounding it and pounding it, but with every strike sent its way, my hand was bounced back effortlessly, glass barely marred by the heat. After my frustration finally peaked, I stabbed my omniblade straight into the partition, and though I grinned as the point melted through, my smile quickly disappeared as I tried to move it. Moving it was like trying to stir molasses in a bowl of honey. I could barely leverage the blade from where it had been embedded. I had to disperse it just to get my hand free.

But I wouldn't be trapped in here. I couldn't be. What had happened to everyone.

Oh god, this had been idiotic. Why had I done this? Why couldn't I have waited? Where was-

A hand suddenly smacked against the barrier violently, causing me to leap back. The owner then heaved themselves into view, breathing irregular as their other hand clicked the cell's release button. A noticeable amount of blue was currently spattered across a black stripe. The academy's siren immediately growing louder as the glass partition was raised.

I then rushed forward to catch the Turian once he began tipping over.

"What happened? Are you okay?!"

Chellick groaned as he quickly brushed me off, stumbling backwards, deciding to support himself with the wall behind him instead.

"They...egh. Haa, haa...I'm...sorry. Mmph. I should of-"

"Shut up. We need to get you help."

"I already...got myself gel...it'll kick in soon," he panted.

"Then tell me what happened? What's going on?!"

He looked at me before sliding to the floor. "You already know."

_Dammit._

The Turian took a moment before he looked me in the eye again. "They were fast...they...they hit us before we even knew they were here..."

"They attacked the Academy?!"

"They didn't care about C-Sec...mostly. Most got out before they really swarmed. No...it was Citadel Control they wanted...they destroyed any chance we had with...with communicating with the fleet. After that, they...they pulled out as fast as they came."

"...that's what she said," I muttered under my breath, panicked, mind absent of anything else as his words reached my ears.

Was it already too late? Did I really-

I quickly bit my tongue as Chellick suddenly grunted in pain, and after shutting my eyes in frustration, I decided to kneel beside him, to hear the words he whispered next.

"_Saren_ was leading them. He...dammit. You...I'm sorry I didn't believe you-"

"Why would you?" I replied sadly, sporting a soft smile. "Just tell me where evidence is. I'll find my stuff and try to cut him off before-"

"That's right! You said...you know where they would be headed-"

"Citadel Tower. He's headed for Citadel Tower."

"Hmph...makes sense." He reared back his head, closing his eyes. "The radio chatter before comms went down said its access points were...where the heaviest fighting is. They're trying but...it sounded like Special Response was fighting a losing battle." Chellick grunted, suddenly pushing himself off the ground, refusing my help as I offered. "I'll take you to evidence. Just...follow me...and keep your eyes open."

The Turian was already standing tall with his firearm drawn again, soldiering back out into the crimson red corridor of the Academy before I had the chance to be the of voice reason. But all Turians had that strong sense of duty didn't they? C-Sec, soldier, or civilian. Didn't everyone always say they'd put the safety of society before the safety of their own lives? And in a scenario like this...it was what was necessary, wasn't it? As every one of them are forced to join the military, all Turians know that I guess. Know that sacrifice is necessary in war, isn't it?

* * *

**Five Minutes Later.**

Breathing still ragged, Chellick motioned to me as we neared the last corner, indicating to me that we had finally reached the room. Luckily doing so without incident. The only things we had encountered trekking through the hallways was the occasional body of an officer or Geth platform strewn across the floor.

The detective suddenly grimaced, mandibles flaring after opening the door to evidence, as he found several faces immediately turn toward us. But he had discipline. He refused to open fire, and so, had time to pull his gun away upon seeing that they were just a couple of teary-eyed civilians and officers. I honestly don't know if I would have been able to do the same.

"...are they gone?"

I immediately saw my trolley at the far end of the dark room, two crates still lying atop it. Chellick pointed to where it was, seemingly to tell me that's where all my stuff would be, before going on to answer the officer's question. I wasted no time in taking the long walk across the evidence locker to get to it.

The first crate was left like it was when I last saw it, lid nowhere to be found, a great, big handful of unset Mark 14's still remaining inside. But I wasn't currently interested in those. No, I pulled off the second crate containing my personal belongings instead. For this was the most important. I unlatched the cover and immediately slid the top off, hungrily reaching inside for its contents. I had felt naked without it. Just one stray shot in those hallways. Just one bullet. Without a hardsuit, without a kinetic barrier, it could have been over at any moment. Would be over. Everything would end. Without even being aware of what had caused it. Just like that, boom...I might never open my eyes again. And I shuddered to think of it now. I refused to go out that way. It wouldn't be fair to just have it end like that. After all I've been through, all I've seen. I've come too far for something as pathetic as that. I reached into the crate now, carefully lifting my onyx hardsuit back out. Because if I was going out, it'd be out on my own terms.

You could bet on it.

I stepped into the armor's black greaves and lifted them all the way up to my torso, nestling my boots into the armor's own snugly. It's armor plating was pulled over my head next, being sure to have my arms slide into its bracers. By snapping the latches underneath the ceramic breastplate, joining the two pieces together, the ensemble was finished. I then splayed my hand while pulling back my wrist, making the armor's gauntlet as snug as it could be. I redonned my omni-tool after that was done, which immediately lit up and displayed a message, registering that the suit's pieces were now conjoined.

_This hardsuit's VI-_

I entered 'approve' without hesitation. My body stiffened once I had, onyx suit just now sealing hermetically, the kinetic barrier activating, its internal parameters being set, Aldrin Lab software taking care of the rest. I then reached into the crate for my firearm next, the one from the very beginning. My trusty...Harpy right? That's what Gellix had called it hadn't he? No, yeah, Predator's were from the year 2185. There was no way I could have had one on me at the start. I had just been mistaken when I found out back on Eden Prime. But when every model of pistol in this galaxy looked the same, could one really blame me?

I immediately cocked the gun, ejecting the last thermal clip used, and holstered it at my side, pistol quickly retracting into a square for easy storage. Strap the rest of the spare thermal clips from Virmire to nocks in my belt. Shield Battery comes out of the crate next, and clicked in place too. Attaches to your back, right atop your generator. Adds more weight, but a good trade for the stronger shields. Found out kinetic buffers are just stims, not suit mods or anything fancy like that. But still useful regardless. Stims that your hardsuit 's VI automatically released when optimal. Increase reaction time, lessen pain, drugs are dope, etc. Anderson said you injected that thru a port in your shoulder. Suit would store it for you, so I did just that. Then came the cold-steel blade I had taken from one shady Turian several days ago, slid into a sheath I had fabricated for it back before Virmire.

And, after that...I had everything I had brought to this god-forsaken station.

I was ready.

But...one could always use more.

"Hey, Chellick...C-Sec wouldn't happen to have any scoped rifles or any other heavy hitting stuff in its armory would it?"

"We have access to some of the most sophisticated weaponry there is. It's what gives us our edge," he was quick to reply. My eyes then caught the large arsenal across from me as Chellick began to approach it. "But the armory is at the other side of the academy. So, we'll make do with what we have here." He then started sorting through them. "A few weapons taken off the Citadel's black markets. I don't think HQ will mind if we borrow some in our current situation."

The Turian, already looking a bit sprier than he did several minutes ago, medi-gel apparently kicking in, took down a particularly tricked out sniper rifle and tossed it my way. And as I caught it, I found the gun looking fairly familiar. Like I had seen it somewhere before-

"Armax Arsenal had a shipment stolen from their docks a couple weeks ago," Chellick replied, next moving on to open a metal container with several cautionary labels stamped all over it.

_Armax? _

"Customs and I actually just tracked down the thieves yesterday, operating right outside Martho district."

Armax...Armax...Ar- oh hey! That's right! This was that Punisher-series sniper rifle that Garrus was looking at back when Shepard first got her Spectre gear wasn't it?! I'll have to-

"And of course, that was partially thanks to you Shield."

"...huh?"

"After looking at those stolen mods you got from Jax, the techs found heavy traces of mytrokin on them, something Martho's known in abundance for. And after asking around, we quickly found where they were storing it all. Ended up booking the idiots with a simple sting."

"...oh. Oh damn. Glad Garrus and I were able to help you out then-"

"Yeah, anyway, that's why we have _these_ currently on hand. Hope they're 'heavy hitting' enough for you."

I could not stop my eyes from widening once they witnessed the Turian pull two rocket launchers labelled ML-77 out of the shipping container, and begin to drag them along the room's ceramic floor. I had to say, just the sight of them alone really tickled my pickle. I got my hands wrapped around one as soon as I could, being sure to caress it gently as Chellick packed the other one into the empty crate on the trolley. The detective then brought over a few more stolen fire arms that we ended up just throwing in the crates haphazardly, before finally coming to an agreement that we had enough firepower to level a small colony. And after brushing our hands of the matter, the others arguing in the dark evidence locker soon took notice.

"What...what are you planning to do with all that?" a frightened woman was the first to ask.

"You're not going out there, are you? You're injured Chellick!"

"I'm fine Swann," the detective disagreed, hoisting an assault rifle over his back. "I've gotten worse wounds in spats with my mate."

"Were you even listening to the radio chatter? Where are you even planning to go? Those things are all over the Presidium Commons! We can't even leave the academy-"

"Not through the entrance, no," Chellick replied to the officer, already walking away from the shelves.

"...wait what? What are you all talking about?" I asked after hearing them, alarmed at the thought that we wouldn't even be able to leave in the first place.

Officer 'Swann' immediately turned to me, obviously intent on convincing us to stay. "Those bastards are crawling all over the Presidium! When those things first attacked, HQ immediately sent in teams to take it back. And they were all slaughtered before they even touched down! They're all over the grounds, you'll never be able to-"

"Which is why we'll be taking to the air," Chellick retorted, now urging me forward with the trolley.

"What?" the officer flatly asked now.

"I still have my private car out on the roof, and it should have been left untouched. After we load this up, we'll head straight for the Tower with it."

"Chellick, you heard the reports before comms went out right? Every single squad car that's skirted the Presidium's been shot down! They got guns trained on the air! You'll never make it-"

"-inside the Presidium. Which is why Shield and I will be taking a detour through a maintenance tunnel to the outside."

"...outside. Into the nebula. Where Citadel Fleet is currently engaging that Geth Armada? Chellick. I know you like to be outside the box but-"

"Technically, we'll be outside the Citadel."

"It's a figure of speech!" Swann shot back.

"I know," Chellick quietly chuckled from the doorway, before noticeably wincing.

"Hm...yeah, no, I kind of find myself agreeing with him Chellick. I think I like this plan less and less every time I hear more about it-"

"If Saren was heading to the Tower like you said, then he'll be halfway to the Council Chambers by now, even if he hasn't encountered any resistance. Heading straight to the top by air is the only option we have to beat him there. And it'll be the only way we'll get these weapons in the hands of Tower Security in time. Don't tell me after all this that you're bowing out now."

I gritted my teeth, turning away as his words reached my ears. Because he was right. Even if his plan was suicidally stupid. Despite what my wishful thinking would have me believe...the future wasn't written in stone. There was always the possibility that the Normandy might not have arrived in time at Ilos. That Shepard might not make it to the Tower. That Sovereign could win.

I looked down at my left hand, middle finger still noticeably missing from where Gellix had severed it. And I clenched the remaining ones I had tight. After everything I've been through...

Fuck that shit man.

I threw back my head and let out a sigh. Did I really have to remind myself exactly what the hell my name was again?

I decided to name myself Marauder Shield.

And Shield doesn't whine. Shield doesn't second guess himself. Shield doesn't think. Shield just does. Because Marauder Shield's a 100% certified bad ass motherfucker. And it's about time everyone learned that too. Including me.

"...heh. Just missing with you Chellick. I _was _wondering how I was gonna get up there with the taxis out...you know I'm with it ya bish."

"I'm sorry?"

"Ahem. What I had meant was that I'm in. Let's send these bastards packing back behind the Perseus Veil."

The Turian smiled at me before he passed the small group beside us, continuing towards the storage's exit.

"Even though you were alone, you were still willing to throw your life away, endure life in supermax, all just to protect this station. I didn't think you'd need convincing Shield."

Because yeah, I had enough of letting the universe make the _key choices_ for me. I was the captain of my own ship. Master of my own destiny. Hell, why did it even take this long to get it through my thick head? This was the exact kind of adventure I had been eager for my entire life wasn't it? That _everyone_ wished for? To be the hero of their own adventure? I-

Wait.

"LIFE?!"

"And if this all works out, I might just help you get that sentence reduced to several decades," the detective replied as he walked out the door. "Come on, the parking deck isn't too far from here."

"Chellick!"

Mind still wrapped around the fact that my shenanigans had consequences, I barreled out of the room with the trolley after him.

"God help you, you stupid bastards," Swann muttered behind me as the door's room shut behind us.

Despite my misgivings...there was definitely no turning back after this.

This would be the last mission.

It would all end today.

* * *

**Fifteen Minutes Later.**

"HOH SHIT!"

It would all end today. This view would be the last thing I saw. There was no coming back from this.

"OW," I let out as my head slammed into the window, sky car already beginning to spiral out of control.

"Come on! Hold! Hold!"

The Turian slammed at the controls as the sky car apparently became unresponsive to any of his commands. Like talking to the vehicle would even do anything. Then the car suddenly jerked upward, causing my head to next smash into the roof, but luckily veering us off our catastrophic course into the tower's infrastructure. Not due to anything the driver did however. Rather, I think it had just bounced off the hull of the Geth frigate in our way instead.

The sky car then stabilized once it finally acknowledged some of the fancy handiwork going on, and with control now returned, Chellick made the dubious choice of having the thing continue gunning forward at top speed. Even though the engines of the car were now audibly sputtering, obvious to every soul inside that it was struggling just to stay in the air, let alone continue our long ascent up.

"Why the hell did we take this?!" I decided to finally voice when I managed to overcome the fear gripping my body. "This thing's a piece of shit!"

"What?! The Tess Auburn 2166's a classic! You should thank your ancestors that you even get to ride in one. No, what you should _really_ be asking is what in the world that Geth ship was doing to the surface of the tower," Chellick inquired, alarmingly ignorant of the car's state, deciding to instead take his eyes off the sky and look back over his shoulder at the stationary ship falling behind us.

Now, having seen the ship lowering something out of its bay, and with the meta-knowledge of another dimension, I intuited it probably had something to do with those Geth missile turrets you encounter in the final approach. The one you take after the elevators are shut down. Probably there to help protect Sovereign once the Reaper actually latches on to this thing. Damn bastahds. And those things used to always kill me in the game too, didn't they? Such nonsense. A one hit KO and Mission Failure if you even _think_ of peeking your head out from around the corner, those huge ass turrets sniping you from afar, with giant rockets no less...I wonder how Shepard would fair with them...because hot damn, yeah, those things were always complete and utter bullshit-

"Watch it!" I quickly shouted, surprised to have noticed it first, bracing myself against my seat as part of the tower suddenly erupted in flame, exploding from a stray torpedo.

Pah he decided to say upon turning back around, having the sky car shoot right through the cloud of smoke, Chellick decidedly not giving a single flying fuck as we continued onward to infinity and beyond.

"No one likes a backseat driver Shield," he calmly replied, suddenly swerving the car around a piece of metal now jutting out of the tower.

"Gack-" I uttered in response as my head smacked into the window again, finally realizing that the seatbelts of the car did nothing. "Yeah...well...no one likes a driver who pilots like a gaping dickhole _Chellick_. I've seen cripples fly better than this-"

"Taking first for three consecutive years on the Tayseri Sky Circuit would say otherwise Shield. Navigating this sky is nothing-"

Both our heads then smashed into the dashboard as the back of the car was suddenly accosted by a great force. One that was particularly violent and explosive. And as the sky car immediately began to nosedive with its engines out of commission, I could only eloquently sum up the situation with-

"Oh SHIT!"

The driver of the vehicle was a tad more collected, deigning to simply yank up on the throttle. And shortly after that...cut the engine.

"Just in time," Chellick then incorrectly opined as the car began to plummet like a rock.

And a lot of things passed thru my mind while the vehicle was in free fall, with the Turian deciding death our only remaining recourse. I wondered what Anderson was currently doing now with the Presidium under siege. Where he might be, if he ever got in trouble with the Alliance for my mishap. If Shepard and friends had reached the underground bunker on Ilos and Vigil yet, if they were even on their way here. If they'd make it in time. Mass effect fields. How did they work? And of course, would dying in a fiery explosion be particularly painful? More painful at least than being mangled in a twisted metal wreckage?

These were the questions my mind decided to ask as we fell to our deaths.

But then...exactly not just that happened.

And I couldn't tell you how he did it.

But as the car was pulled upward, colliding with a tower platform below us, subsequently careened off it, sailed across a gap of empty space with an inordinate amount of hang time in the air, engines still smoking, and then land on a pad conveniently lying adjacent to the previous one, grinding to a halt rather slowly, and extremely close to its edge, hanging off it in fact, fairly precariously...

I could only blink in realization that we had come out of the entire thing unscathed.

And alive. Maybe.

I mean...I'd be fine.

After some therapy. Maybe.

But...yeah. I was never flying with this Turian again.

"Damn!" he was the first to say, already getting out of the vehicle to observe the damage. "...I don't think General Desolas will ever fly again after this."

"...you named your car General Desolas?"

"I know it's controversial. But he was a Turian War Hero. Always got the job done. Just like my baby here," Chellick quickly replied, patting the smoking car.

"You know what. Sorry I asked. Let's just go," I sighed, climbing out of the flaming wreckage next.

"You did good General. You can rest easy now."

After reactivating the trolley in the back, struggling to drag it out of the car, I decided to forego any response to that, deigning to simply get away from it. I was intent on making it to the Tower Entrance before Chellick found a way to get said 'General' back in the air. I rather be standing on my own two feet when I met my end, not trapped in a poorly crafted metal cage of death. And we really didn't have the time to waste either.

"Critical failures detected across all monitored systems. Please begin emergency evacuation," was the first voice that greeted us inside, Avina loudly repeating herself again and again and again as we hurried by. But we really didn't have time to indulge random NPCs, let alone mindless VIs. As I mentioned before, we were on a time table. Ignoring the program, Chellick quickly passed me inside the hallway, rifle already out, deeming it smart to scout ahead for us since my hands were currently preoccupied with pushing the work dolly.

And after some trekking, the Citadel Tower's stairwell was the last obstacle we really needed to clear. Knowing this, we made sure to book it the rest of the way. Chellick silently sprinting ahead as I carried the rear, pushing the trolley after him as fast as I could. Though the cart's mass effect fields were working their magic, the thing was still a pain to move up the insanely long stair case. And when I say insanely long, I mean INSANELY long. So much so that as we finally entered the room where decisions concerning the entire galaxy were made, my face was drowsed in sweat and eyes blinded by it, my legs too tired to even dodge the sudden hail of incoming fire that then came our way.

Chellick immediately rolled away from the side door we exited, taking cover behind a column, while I deigned to just duck my head and collapse behind the portable, yet very convenient, form of cover currently in front of me. And I guessed in spite of our quick shortcut, we had still been just a tad late.

Certainly not the best way to begin the final mission.

* * *

Codex Entry:

**Tess Auburn 2166**

The 2166 model year Tess Auburn received minor trim changes and additional standard safety features, including padded dash and ablative visors, platinum reinforced frame, as well as seat belts for the front and rear passengers. The 660 mid-trim level was dropped, leaving the 550 and 770 models for 2166. Available for the first time was a floor mounted six-speed manual transmission and a secondary dash-mounted tachometer for tertiary engines.

The classics received particular attention to the styling of the roofs for 2166. The two-door hardtop models received a rectangular rear window and more formal, angular "crisp-line" roofline that could be covered with an alloy trim. Classics had an optional trim- an outlined "halo" roof accent color. The X3M's roof area over the cargo compartment was at the same level with the rest of the roof, no longer dipped down as in prior years. This X3M model carried the Citadel insignia and now even featured 83 cubic feet of cargo space. Two wagon seating capacities were available as well: a standard two-passenger version with one-row of seats with a drop-down bottom-hinged tailgate incorporating a fully retracting rear window for accessing cargo, or an optional four-passenger version with two-rows of seats, with a left-side hinged rear door.

Currently considered a Collector's Item after the X3M's manufacturer collapse in 2166, making the Tess Auburn 2166 the last model ever released by Altakiril Air.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Mm mm mm. Look's like them Citadel Boys are at it again. Used to be that sky cars stayed in the sky, but not when them Citadel Boys are 'round. Saren's in Citadel country now.

And you thought I couldn't do it. That I'd never achieve it. But after all this time...I've done it. I affirm all letters of the alphabet have actually been used in an appellative action. So suck it haters! Weep over my mastery of the English language! And...wait what? This story has even reached 200 Favorites AND Reviews?! You guys :'(

**Reviews:**

0/0 - Shield's size is 30'' x 32''. And I don't know how you guessed it, but yes, I do plan to have ShepardxConrad be a thing. Over someone's dead body. Probably Conrad's. As for Connect Four with Wrex, I don't think Shield can even count that high, so I think a game between them would be over pretty quick.

ElvisFonz23 - And I'm glad you liked the chapter man! Your nice words always butter my biscuits. And if you think cliffhangers are awesome, then look forward to the next couple of chapters coming your way lol

Dekuton - I'll be frank. I really do not like it when OC's succeed at everything they do, and in fact, I detest it as much as I detest baby carrots. I mean there are several other reasons for all the failures but I'll save those for another time. And honestly, at this point, it just might as well be a running joke.

Rainy Fear - After reading all that, I'll be honest with you all here...no, wait, actually, scratch that, I won't. I'll also save that explanation for later. But like you _were_ saying however, lack of planning really is Shield's kryptonite. Though I'll reiterate that flaw of his is what makes him so charming, interesting and extremely handsome too. You might look at him and see all his failures, his many, many, many failures, but I will ask you this...oh, tarnation. I forgot what I was going to ask. Oh well. I'm sure I'll remember eventually~

Toothless is Best - Oh, wait, that's right! I was going to ask why everyone's been thinking Shield was trying to blow up the CONDUIT?! Da Fuq? You can't destroy a Mass Relay like dat! Even the bite-size versions! I'm glad I was already intending to walk you guys through his thought process before all this confusion appeared. No, Shield was just trying to plant explosives on the walkway so that Saren and his Geth would blow up as soon as they teleported onto the Citadel. Blow up the Conduit? Haha, y'all crazy.

Pelican Whitestink - You right tho. Dude's got balls so big they'd make a Krogan woman gasp. And I don't know how you guys keep guessing where the story is going. But that's the plan. The Reapers can't reap through the Citadel if there's no Citadel to reap through in the first place *insert Roll Safe meme here*

Doctor 03/20 - But I love the taste of your tears :(

Guest - And I know! Which is why I had to add it as soon as possible. Will Shield ever learn which it is? No, no he will not. And you say that nothing changes saves for his mindset and other character's opinions of him?! What else is there that one can change?!

AJ - I love that you love this story and hope you will continue to write more soon!

Blind in a Butthole - And think I wouldn't respond to each and every individual review you submitted too bro? Think again. In order: True. He really should have died by Chapter 3. But there are no deaths as epic than the ones that happen under Shepard's command. Nuclear Blast? Exploding into fairy dust after saving a Doomed Race? Stabbed to death by a Space Ninja? All good ends. And Renegades are really the only option a Shepard can truly take, because how else could one genocide four different races in one playthrough? Duh. Shep might also be a prick, but she's OUR prick. And I don't care what you say about Space Racists (or Speciests), Humans R00L, Aliens drool. Fact. And I still can't believe there are people out there who never heard the Commander Shepard Song. It's depressing. And while your next comment is astute, I can tell you that once Shepard'd know the Broker wants Shield specifically, she'd then wonder why if everything he said had been false. And True. That he did. But...didn't Stupid Shifty Turian get the better of all of us in the end? Ah, you'll learn more about him later. Though by the time you read this, you'll have already learned about him several chapters ago. And in fact, you won't even see this until you finish another 20 chapters. Doh. Stupid review as you go along format. I wonder if I should go back and add this in to Chapter 23 for him then?

...no, you guys are right, that'd be too much work. I'm sure he'll be fine.

Gee willikurs. This story would literally be cut in half if you got rid of all these AN's. But of course, if that were to happen, then I would just go insane from seeing all the comments and being unable to reply to any of them. And I know you guys would all spiral into depression if you didn't get to see my various witticisms and totally hilarious jokes in them. I mean, that's the only reason you all really read this right? ...RIGHT?!

* * *

**In the next chapter: The Closer is Close.**

**Tune in Next Time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!**


End file.
